Outside the Lines
by Annerb
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again? Alternative Storyline for Season 4's 'Chain Reaction'. Team, Sam/Jack
1. Graveside

Title: Outside the Lines: Graveside  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

Author's Note: The title of this fic and the idea were inspired by a song by Lisa Loeb ('Wander for Me') on the long commute home. I wanted a look at Sam, her reaction to a major character death and what she might be capable of if she was pushed to the ropes over the protection of her teammates. Here's what I came up with. Italicized bits are flashbacks, but I think you got that...:)

_**Outside the Lines**_

_Graveside_

Samantha Carter stood tall and still in her uniform among a sea of gravestones. Her hair was neatly tucked under her cap and her eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses. The bright sun shone down on her and the others assembled on either side of her.

Sam pulled surreptitiously at the collar of her shirt, silently reflecting that she had worn her dress blues at too many of these occasions lately. It had only been three weeks since she had stood in a similar spot half-listening to speeches about great men and great sacrifices, her eyes avoiding the gaping hole at her feet that matched the one in her heart.

Funerals were a major hazard of the job, but three weeks ago SG-1 had stood in stunned silence side by side at the grave of General Hammond.

A car accident. Amazing that something so mundane could claim a man of such importance, a man of such conviction and warmth. Sam had had plenty of tears that day, even as she could feel the fizzle of raw anger radiating off of her commanding officer who stood by her side. Jack could never buy that Hammond had had a heart attack behind the wheel and plowed his car into a pole.

But where was Jack now? That was the true question as she stared at the empty grave in front of her. Three days ago her world had shattered, Major York and Lieutenant Wash reporting back as the only survivors of the newly formed SG-1.

Standing in the control room with Teal'c at her side, Sam had heard the words she'd always dreaded.

"Colonel O'Neill fell in the field, sir."

Hanging from the young man's fingers were Jack's dog tags, stained with blood.

She remembered feeling Teal'c's hand pressing low against her back, offering support. But Sam hadn't swayed on her feet. She hadn't reached out to touch the tags, to see if they harbored any residual warmth of the man who had worn them. She had not cried.

She had felt absolutely nothing.

For three days she had walked the halls of the SGC like a phantom, grinding her teeth at every sympathetic glance and studiously ignoring every soft 'How are you doing?'

She began to wonder what was wrong with her. Hadn't she cared more that this? Shouldn't she feel more? And then there was guilt, a constant bitterness in the back of her throat. Didn't he deserve more than her indifference?

The numbness finally drove her to Daniel in a frenzy of need to just feel something.

_Sam found herself on Daniel's doorstep, pushing past him as soon as he answered the door. He closed the door, turning to her to ask her something or other, but Sam had already pushed him up against the wall, her hands up his shirt and her lips pressed to his. _

_Daniel sputtered in complete shock for a moment before his hands began to grab at hers. "Sam, what are you doing?" he managed to ask, tearing his lips from hers._

"_I need to feel," she rasped harshly against his neck before nibbling at his ear._

_Daniel remained rigid under the onslaught for another minute before sighing heavily and wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pulling her tight against him. Sam felt overwhelming relief that he wasn't going to question this._

"_I'm not who you want, Sam," he whispered softly in her ear._

_Sam flinched, her fingers digging into his skin. Damn him, she thought, pressing her eyes closed, pushing away from him._

"_I'm not him," he continued, refusing to release her. "And I never can be."_

"_Damn you, Daniel!" she swore. She began to push against him in earnest, her fists pounding against his chest, heaping obscenities upon him. With some amazing source of strength, Daniel managed to keep her trapped against his chest, riding out the tantrum._

"_I miss him, too, Sam," he confessed in a broken voice._

_Sam instantly stopped struggling. Something in his voice, something in the confession maybe, created a huge crack in the dam she had made to hold everything back for the last three days. With a huge pulsing flash, she realized that she hadn't been feeling too little; she had been feeling too much to even comprehend. There was just too much to actually feel and survive._

_When the tears finally came, they fell in great torrents, her body shaking helplessly. Daniel held her tightly throughout, adding his tears to hers. After minutes, hours, Sam finally confessed reverently into Daniel soaked shirt, "I loved him." They were words she had never spoken aloud, words she had never even let herself think before, and now they hovered above them like a specter._

_Daniel's arms tightened around her, his fingers playing gently up and down her spine._

"_I loved him," Sam said again, louder this time, as if testing out the words. "And he never even knew."_

"_He knew, Sam," Daniel whispered fervently, his fingers in her hair. "He knew."_

_Sam just pressed her head closer into Daniel's chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart, praying that he was right._

She had woken the next morning, the day of Jack's funeral, feeling the warmth of Daniel curled around her. Even now, as they stood next to the grave together some hours later, his hand was quietly entwined with hers, offering support.

Sam was no longer crying. All the red puffiness from last night was carefully concealed. Not that she didn't still feel an overwhelming avalanche of emotions, but something else today was more important.

Her stoic demeanor had little to do with what most people suspected. They probably thought that she was keeping up appearances even here, in the last moment. But Sam couldn't care less about propriety or secrets. Not today of all days.

Her head was clearer than it had been in days, as if her tears and confessions had reawakened her brain after three days of sleepwalking. She was too busy thinking to weep mindlessly at the hollow grave of her commanding officer. Too busy examining the things she had been too numb to notice before.

As she stood, listening to a priest consign an empty coffin to the bosom of God, she replayed the last time she had spoken to Jack over and over again in her head.

It had only been four nights ago that she had last seen him. He had come her door at almost eleven, catching her in her pajamas.

"_Sir!" she said in surprise. She hadn't seen him in two weeks, ever since he was forced on vacation by their new commanding officer, General Bauer. Apparently Jack had accused him of having his head up his ass. _

_Sam would have paid to have seen that. _

_She suspected that Jack had used the time off to poke around into Hammond's death, but judging from how weary he looked, he hadn't found what he wanted._

"_Do you want to come in?" Sam asked, opening the door wider._

_Jack shook his head. "No, I just wanted to stop by, see how you're doing." He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his feet. "I heard about the weapons test."_

_Sam rolled her eyes and let out a puff of air in annoyance. She still couldn't believe how stupid Bauer had been. "We're all very lucky to still be here," Sam said, leaning casually on the door frame._

_Jack shuffled his feet. "Yeah. I'm sorry I wasn't there."_

_Sam stared at him for a moment, surprised by the admission. "That's okay, sir. I doubt you could have talked him out of it."_

_Jack shrugged and looked out at the stars visible from her front porch. "A lot of changes lately," he observed softly._

_She knew he was referring to Hammond's death, Bauer and the reassignment of all the members of SG-1. She still couldn't quite believe that it was over. That she would rarely, if ever, step through the gate again. 'Too important to risk in the field.' And if she ever did, it wouldn't be at his side._

_She hated that it felt like her life was spinning completely out of her control._

_Suddenly Jack pulled a long white envelope from his pocket. "I want you to hold onto this for me, Carter," he said, staring at her intently. "Consider it my last order as your CO," he added with a smirk._

_Sam cautiously took the envelope, her fingers brushing his. "What is it?"_

"_Just keep it safe somewhere. You'll know when it's time to open it."_

_She opened her mouth to ask more questions, but he turned abruptly and started down her front path. He stopped a few steps away and turned back to look at her. "I just wanted you to know, Carter…You're the best I've ever served with. The absolute best."_

_The words took her by surprise. She felt her heart beat faster. "Sir-," Sam started, but she really had no idea what to say. His behavior was unnerving to say the least. _

_Jack shook his head and smiled the sort of smile that always made it hard for Sam to breathe. "I just wish…," he said, trailing off. He looked like he wanted to say more, but he just shrugged and said, "Night, Carter."_

"_Goodnight, sir," she barely remembered to say as she watched him disappear down her front walk._

That was the last time she had seen him alive. The next day he had gone on a mission with the new SG-1. Only two members had come back, reporting that Jack and Captain Morris had fallen to enemy fire.

In her haze of disbelief, she had managed to completely forget about the mysterious envelope that she had stashed in her fire-safe for safe keeping.

Now she was simply biding her time. _You'll know when it's time to open it._ Those had been his words. Something in her mind was advising caution, telling her that it was somehow very important to finish all the proper motions today. Attend the funeral, mingle at the wake and, most importantly, don't rock the boat. Don't let them see that your brain is working a mile a minute. Don't let them see that you suspect.

This was all very important because as she stood by an empty grave with Daniel's hand clenched in hers, there was only one thing she was certain of.

Jack O'Neill had known this was going to happen.


	2. Dawn

Title: Outside the Lines: Dawn  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

_Dawn_

Samantha Carter sat on the edge of her bed as the fourth day since Jack's death dawned brilliantly over the sycamores. She stared out her window, not seeing the streaking colors, not hearing the delicate song of the morning birds.

Somewhere in the night all grief had fled, replaced by growing steely determination. Now she sat, perched on the edge of a decision. No matter which road she chose, she knew her life would never be the same.

That was fine by her.

Behind her, the bed was covered in various objects she had collected during the night. Papers, munitions, and a briefcase among them. A new life, if she wanted it.

But what did she really want?

Yesterday she had wandered appropriately through Jack's wake, sticking close to Janet, Daniel and Teal'c. Playing the role of the ice queen that she had developed over the years. Daniel had fluttered near her at all times, but he needn't have bothered. Sam was far from breakdown at that point. She was quietly counting the seconds, forcing herself to enjoy the calm, knowing what was coming.

At dusk she had left the party, aware of the sedan that followed her home. Let the games begin, she'd thought wryly.

Entering her home, she'd gone straight to her safe, extracting the simple envelope Jack had pressed into her hands. She trembled for a moment, not really wanting to know what it said. Did it hold the answers she needed? Were there words in here that she had secretly longed to hear for so long? Would they still mean anything?

Grabbing a letter opener, she slashed the envelope open. A single sheet of paper covered in black, scrawled writing and a key poured out onto her carpet. She grabbed the key first. It was a small silver key with an orange knob attached to it with a safety pin. The number 198 was etched into the plastic. Property of Denver City Bus Station.

She set it aside and turned her attention to the letter.

_Carter-_

_I'm doing everything I can to stop this, but if you're reading this, then more than likely I failed. I'm sorry. This isn't the way I wanted it to go down. Especially since I have now left you and the guys in even more danger. I've set up everything you'll need. God, I'm sorry, Carter. I did everything I could think of to keep you from this._

_But I know you can do this, Carter. You're the one thing I've always had faith in, even when everything else has gone to crap. _

_I'm sorry I can't be there to watch your six._

_-Jack_

_P.S. Never look back, Carter. Never look back._

The note now lay crumpled on her bed spread. She had read it a hundred times during the long night, knowing what he was asking.

By midnight, Sam had finally realized that the black sedan half a block down from her house was not leaving. She knew she should just wait, but the key was burning a hole in her hand and there was suddenly overwhelming urgency. So instead of sitting tight like a good little girl, she had dressed in black, shoving her gun in at the small of her back, and slipped on an empty knapsack. She climbed out the back fence, slinking through her neighbors' yards, slowly making her way to the closest major street.

She'd grabbed a cab to the bus station in Denver. By the time she'd reached the station it was nearly three in the morning. A few stranded travelers slept restlessly on benches while pickpockets and the homeless wandered the echoing spaces. No one gave Sam a second glance.

She cautiously opened locker number 198. One cursory glance revealed three 9-mils and ammunition, which she quickly swept into her backpack. Zipping it back up and swinging it on her back, she grabbed the last item in the locker, a black briefcase. She ran one hand over the interior of the locker, searching for anything else, but came away empty. She slammed the locker shut and walked away without a backwards glance.

Two hours later she slipped back into her house, a quick glance out the front revealing that her stalkers were still in place.

Retreating back to her room, she allowed herself to inspect the stockpile Jack had created. The guns and case were covered in a thick layer of dust, telling Sam that this wasn't a recent collection. He had been prepared for something to happen.

Sam was surprised to find that the case held a small fortune in cash. Ones, fives, twenties and hundreds in neat stacks. She ran her hand over the piles, not bothering to wonder were it had all come from.

A pocket in the lid revealed various documents: passports, licenses, social security cards. Sam opened the first passport to find her own face staring back at her. Stacy Miller. The next showed Daniel's picture. Lance Sterling. She had to suppress a smile, knowing Jack had carefully picked that name just to annoy Daniel. The moment quickly turned into a burning emptiness in her stomach, so she turned it aside and grabbed the next, which she knew would reveal Teal'c. Mark Evans. Sam forced herself to open the fourth passport. Jack's face smiled gently out at her, the smile that seemed to say: 'I know something you don't!' She ran her fingers over his face, glancing at the name he'd chosen for himself. John Patrick. Good Irish name, she mused.

The briefcase represented what Jack wanted for them. A whole new life.

It meant one thing to Sam. Jack was certain that Hammond had been forcibly removed. He had been murdered. Sam could barely think the word without bile rising in the back of her throat. With Hammond gone, the way had been made for Bauer and his policies to take sway at the SCG. There had only been one more hurdle in the way. One more wildcard that could prevent the total take over of the SGC by people with a more nefarious agenda.

Jack O'Neill.

As dawn gradually peeked its head into Sam's bedroom, she was faced with the horrible truth. The new SG-1 had been hand picked and not by Jack. They had never intended for Jack to return from that first mission. And he'd known it.

Murdered.

Sam pushed off the edge of the bed and ran for her bathroom, heaving violently into the toilet. She lay there for what seemed like hours, her head pressed to the cool porcelain.

Hammond and Jack. Murdered.

It was clear that Jack wanted her to take Teal'c and Daniel and get them as far away from the SGC as she could. He wanted them to live, to keep each other safe. It was his last request of her. He didn't want her to end up crashing her car into a tree one night or falling on alien soil with only traitorous strangers for company. He wanted better for them.

_Never look back, Carter. Never look back._

He wanted her to run and forget.

Sam pushed up from the hard floor and rinsed her face and mouth. Glancing up at the mirror she stared hard at herself.

"I'm sorry, Jack," she said to her reflection. "That's the one thing I can't do."

Returning to her room, she carefully packed everything inside of the case and shoved it under her bed. She put on her uniform that was now a badge of betrayal.

She would make this right. Or die trying.


	3. The Edge

Title: Outside the Lines: The Edge  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

_The Edge_

Predictably, Sam refused Bauer's offer of time off. It was what was expected of her. She worked obsessively on any project sent her way, crashing in temporary quarters more often than not. For one whole week she endured the knowing glances of SGC staff and the worried hovering of Daniel and Teal'c.

None of them even had a clue what was really going on in her head.

She was watching, constantly watching. Assessing, judging, working it all out.

Bauer was just a patsy. She was convinced of it. It didn't change her burning hatred of him, even as he now held her in a sort of awed esteem. He listened now when she spoke.

Unfortunately that was dangerous for Sam, so she avoided the man as much as possible. Always letting others speak over her. Bauer clearly had one purpose here, to quietly fulfill whatever agenda he was handed from the nebulous 'them' that was responsible for the coup. She didn't need him bringing their attention to her anymore than it was already was. She knew she was already walking on borrowed time.

Colonel Mathers, newly transferred and recently assigned 2IC of the base, was the one Sam watched. Jack's replacement. He was now leader of SG-1 with the traitorous York and Wash. Sam quietly seethed at the sight of SG-1 patches on their uniforms. She resisted the urge to rip them off their unworthy shoulders.

She carefully kept a mental list of the new personnel, each one of them suspect of the stain of the new administration. She judged the others around her, wondering which of the men and women she had trusted her life with over the last four years had turned their backs on Hammond and Jack.

Sam hated waiting, feeling each moment bleed away, each one a final chance to follow Jack's last order and escape the closing net to safety. She didn't want it, but she needed to think of Daniel and Teal'c. She was aware that she was playing with all of their lives, but her decision was made.

Six days of acting like model, work-obsessed Major Carter and the black sedan left its post on her street. Sam wasn't naïve enough to think that her office and home weren't still being carefully monitored, but it was a sign that she had passed the first hurdle.

It was time to move forward.

She wandered by Daniel's lab, relieved to find Teal'c there as well. They abruptly stopped talking the moment she entered, confirming the fact that they had been having a meet-up to discuss her. She just hoped they kept themselves limited to her grief, knowing his office would be bugged as well.

"Hey, guys," she said carefully with a small smile.

"Hey, Sam," Daniel said warmly. "We were just-"

"Talking about me?" Sam smoothly interrupted.

Daniel had the good grace to look embarrassed, but Teal'c just looked up at her and said, "We are simply concerned for you, Major Carter. We do not wish to see you 'work yourself into the floor.'"

Sam resisted the urge to correct him and just smiled instead. She was lucky to have such friends. Which was why she was going to see them safe. "I know, guys. I appreciate that you've given me some space."

Daniel crossed the room and rubbed Sam's arm. "Just remember that we're always here if you want to talk or anything."

Sam grabbed Daniel's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Thanks. Actually I was thinking that we should grab dinner off base together tonight, like old times."

Daniel and Teal'c looked genuinely pleased that she wanted to socialize. "That would be most enjoyable, Major Carter."

"I'll pick you guys up at 1900," she said as she exited the lab.

She waited until they were halfway done with their appetizers to broach the real point of this meeting in an out of the way, noisy diner.

"I need you two to do something for me."

Daniel's head snapped up from his plate at her serious tone. Teal'c cocked his head to one side and considered her.

Sam took a deep breath and plunged in. "Teal'c, I need you to return to your family."

They both just stared at her in silence and she could tell that neither of them really understood. "I need you to leave Earth," she clarified. "Forget about the Tau'ri." Teal'c would be better off out there somewhere rather than running around on Earth, never knowing when his symbiote might mature.

Teal'c's eyebrows rose in a way that Sam read as astonishment, but he didn't say anything.

Daniel looked between them in confusion. "Sam, what are you talking about?"

Turning to Daniel, she continued, "You need to resign from the SGC. Take these papers and disappear somewhere. China, Egypt, Russia…I don't care where. It would be too hard to get you back to Abydos, too obvious." She handed him a small knapsack that held his new passport, social security card and nearly 100,000 dollars in cash.

Daniel briefly glanced into the bag before snapping it back shut, his eyes wide. "What the hell is going on, Sam?"

"This isn't the time for questions, Daniel! Just do as I say," Sam barked lowly, not really allowing herself enough time to reflect on how much she sounded like Jack.

"What about you?" Daniel asked, still shocked by her behavior.

"I'm staying here; I have a few things to take care of."

Daniel had begun to sputter at Sam's seeming insanity, when Teal'c laid a steadying hand on Daniel's arm.

"You believe we are in danger," Teal'c noted calmly.

"If you do as I ask, you will both be fine. I only ask that you make your departures as unsuspicious as possible."

Teal'c observed her for a long moment, waiting as the waitress brought them their dinners, taking away their unfinished appetizers.

"You believe O'Neill's death was not accidental," Teal'c finally said, his voice low.

"What?" Daniel demanded in a loud voice.

"Daniel, keep your voice down," Sam snapped.

"Are you trying to say that he was murdered?" Daniel hissed.

Sam closed her eyes, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. They were never going to let this go. Finally she opened her eyes and nodded.

"Sam…," Daniel said in a softer voice, clearly thinking that she was just desperately clawing at straws. Anything that could explain Jack's death.

"Dammit, Daniel. I'm not some grief-stricken crazy woman! He knew! He came to see me the night before he died; he left me a note and a key to everything we needed. Told me to hold on to them for him."

Daniel was silent for a long time, digesting what she'd said. "We're next, aren't we?" he asked softly.

"Yes," Sam finally said quietly. "So, please, do as I ask. I need to know that you two are safe."

Daniel's hands gripped compulsively at the bag in front of him for long minutes before he shoved the bag back towards Sam. "No."

"No?" Sam echoed incredulously. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"You have something planned, Sam. We want in." He didn't even bother to pause and look to Teal'c for conformation.

"It's none of your business, Daniel."

"Of course it is. We're a team."

"No, Daniel, we're not. Last time I checked, SG-1 was disbanded and Jack was dead," she said harshly.

In the ensuing silence, she quietly reflected on the fact that she no longer had any problems calling him Jack. Strange what effect death can have on people.

"I do not think you believe these words to be true," Teal'c observed quietly after a long pause.

Sam ignored the perceptive comment and pushed the bag towards Daniel again. "This is what he wanted, Daniel. Can't you just respect that?"

"Like you are?"

Sam felt color flood her cheeks, though whether from embarrassment or anger, she couldn't quite tell.

"I don't want you to see," she finally confessed softly, her fingers twisting in her napkin.

"See what?"

She met Daniel's eyes, wanting him to see the steel inside them. "What I'm willing to do to see this through."

Daniel's eyes widened with shock at her vehemence and he fell into silence.

"Samantha Carter," Teal'c intoned, "we will stand by you. General Hammond and O'Neill must be avenged. Their deaths must not be allowed to be meaningless."

"Yeah, Sam," Daniel said, finally recovering. "We do this together."

Sam felt their hands covering her own. For Jack's sake, she had tried to make them safe, but deep down she had known they wouldn't be any more capable of letting this go than she was. And maybe, just maybe, they would be able to pull this off.

"Together," she whispered in agreement.


	4. Beyond

Title: Outside the Lines: Beyond  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: **Mature (violence and language)**  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

Author's Note: Just to warn you, this section has quite a bit of violence and some really bad language, so prepare yourself.  
Man…I'm tearing through this fic, huh? An update a day? I hope you guys don't get used to this…;)

_  
Beyond_

Sam stood in total shock, her back pressed against the cold anonymous concrete of the wall behind her. Everything was careening back and forth and she wasn't sure she would ever be able to breathe again.

Blood trickled down her wrists. She could feel it drying on her face. She licked it off her lips, horribly aware that it wasn't her own.

From the beginning, Sam had known there would only be two ways to do this. Jack had tried the first, walking a careful path, cutting a few corners here and there. Essentially within the boundaries of the law and human decency. It hadn't worked and he had died trying.

The second path yawned open before her. Sam knew she would walk outside of the lines. She would do whatever it took. She would push forward until the lines were nothing more than a distant memory.

Whatever it took.

At the noisy diner two nights before, Sam had listened to Teal'c and Daniel discuss various plans to draw out the members of the conspiracy. Brainstorming for ways to investigate without arousing the attention of the very people they wanted to bring down. After initially filling them in on everything she had discovered and suspected, Sam had said nothing.

She said nothing because she already knew what needed to be done. But she held her tongue, knowing that Daniel would never be able to understand. Teal'c had already worked it out, though. She could tell just by looking at him.

They needed details. They needed names. They needed someone on the inside to talk.

And Sam knew just how to do that.

Tucked into a tiny pocket on the interior of the briefcase left for her by Jack had been a single post-it note. 'Just in case' was written across the top above a name and an address. _Bill, 3526 East Trundel_.

After dropping Teal'c and Daniel off, Sam had ventured back to Denver, pulling into the warehouse district under the cover of darkness.

_A slightly overweight balding man opened the side door after Sam pounded on it, noting the small security camera perched on the lintel. _

"_Bill?" Sam asked quietly._

"_That depends," he responded with a smile, placing one hand on the jamb so that his jacket hung open, revealing a holstered gun._

"_I'm Carter. Jack sent me," she tried._

_The man's face broke into a wider smile and stepped away from the door. "Well in that case, you're in the right place."_

_Sam followed him inside, her eyes swiftly cataloging the six guards in various positions throughout the warehouse. The pressing familiarity of her sidearm at the back of her waist offered little comfort in the face of such odds. She'd just have to trust Jack. _

"_So what's Jack up to these days? It's been a while."_

"_He's dead," Sam managed to say with a steady, uninvolved voice._

"_Dead? Damn, I thought that guy had more lives than a frickin' cat. But I guess everyone's luck runs out eventually."_

_He led her to a desk in a small office at the rear of the warehouse, gesturing for her to take a seat._

_Sam quietly adjusted the seat so her back was no longer to the door and settled down, her eyes wandering over the office._

_Bill smirked at the unconscious gesture. "You worked with Jack, right? He told me that if you ever came in that I should get you whatever you wanted."_

_Sam nodded. "I need some equipment. Tasers, sodium pentothal, TD, and such."_

_Bill's eyebrows rose, but he just jotted down some notes and said, "I got it. I'll get you the works."_

"_I also need a location. A small room, thick walls, one entrance and no windows. In an out of the way spot. I don't want to be interrupted."_

_Bill nodded. "I think I've got something appropriate. Will you need clean up?"_

_Sam shook her head. "I'll take care of it."_

_Bill didn't bother to pry. They discussed various other items for a short while, Bill promising to have it all in place by dusk the next day._

_Bill wouldn't take any payment and Sam couldn't quite bring herself to ask what Jack had done for him to make him so accommodating. So she just softly thanked him._

_At the door, he reached out a hand to stop her. "He was a good man," he observed. "I hope you get what you need."_

_Sam raised her eyes to his face and let him see the determination there. "I won't stop until I do," she pledged quietly._

_Bill nodded and released her arm, letting her walk back out into the night. _

The next evening after work, Sam had met Daniel and Teal'c at a bar far from the base. Teal'c met Sam's gaze steadily. "Have you made proper arrangements?"

Sam nodded, not surprised to find Teal'c on the same page before she had even spoken. He knew the stakes and he knew the techniques. One couldn't be a First Prime and not know.

She could feel Daniel looking between them in confusion, but he was wisely keeping quiet.

"Who will it be?" Teal'c asked softly.

Sam took a deep breath, her choice already made. It had to be someone who knew what had happened on that planet, but preferably someone on the fringe. A lackey that could be easily broken.

"Wash," she finally answered.

Teal'c nodded his agreement at the choice.

"He has leave for three days starting the day after tomorrow," she continued. That more than anything had sealed his fate. No one would notice his absence.

Daniel was no longer looking confused. Now he stared down at his drink, his brow drawn tight. He was struggling, Sam could tell.

"There has to be another way," he finally said quietly.

"There is not," Teal'c said.

Daniel dropped his head into his hands. "This is wrong."

This was exactly why she had tried to get him to leave. "I don't want you anywhere near this, Daniel. I mean it." There was no room in her tone for discussion.

Daniel was still for a long time before he nodded once, not looking up at her.

"I need a zat," Sam continued, satisfied that Daniel was going to follow her order.

"That may be difficult," Teal'c noted.

Sam nodded, knowing it would be nearly impossible to slip one out of the SGC.

"I have one," Daniel finally offered, his tone resigned.

Sam quirked an eyebrow at him, wondering where the hell he had managed to get a zat. But there was more there. Daniel's offer was the closest he would get to condoning this enterprise.

She put a hand on his. "Thanks," she said softly.

He gently squeezed her hand before pulling away, still refusing to look her in the eye.

It hurt, but she had no more room for emotional consideration. She would see this through.

Sam carefully arranged Wash's capture. She followed him to a local haunt, a dark bar with bad music and a questionable clientele. Pressing a thousand dollars into the hands of a working girl for her to proposition Wash and lure him into a small back room.

Wash fell with a pathetic squeak after one hit with a zat. Another thousand dollars ensured the lady's silence. She left without a backward glance, leaving Wash to the tender mercies of Teal'c and Sam.

Wash didn't regain consciousness until after he was carefully tied down to a chair in the center of a lank, boxy room with solid concrete walls.

"What the hell?" he sputtered, glancing around at the room.

Sam let Teal'c stare menacingly at Wash while she methodically taped her hands. Split knuckles would be a dead give away. She still had to go back to work tomorrow, after all.

After they had dropped off Daniel the previous night, Teal'c and Sam had discussed how this would go down.

"_Major Carter, you will let me do the interrogation."_

_Sam thought interrogation was a rather glamorous word for what they had planned._

"_I have done this many times," Teal'c continued. _

_Sam knew that he wasn't claiming that his experience would make him more effective. He was claiming that his soul was already stained; he wouldn't be crossing any new lines. It was a form of darkness he knew how to deal with._

_For the tiniest moment, Sam was tempted to take him up on the offer. It would be the easy way. But she shook her head instead. "This is something I have to do, Teal'c."_

_Teal'c stared hard at her and she could almost read his thoughts. 'O'Neill would not want you to become this in his name.' But Teal'c did not speak the words._

_Sam looked away, knowing he was right. But Jack was dead, so what he thought was immaterial. At least he would never have to witness it._

In the end, Teal'c had acquiesced, acknowledging Sam's right. But he stood in the dank room with her, a constant presence of support and witness.

Sam finished with her hands and injected Wash with a cocktail of TD and sodium pentothal. "Do you know who I am?" she asked quietly.

Wash looked at her with wide eyes, glancing from the syringe to Teal'c. He nodded once, swallowing thickly before saying, "Major Carter."

"Do you know why we are here?" she continued mildly.

Wash smirked now; obviously convinced he was in no real danger. After all, all he knew of Major Carter was the brainy lab geek. He had never seen her in the field. He had no idea what she was capable of. "Come now, Major," he taunted, "do you really want to play this game?"

Sam carefully put the syringe away before turning back to Wash. "Yes," she answered briefly before slamming her fist across his face.

There was a crunch of bone and Wash's skin split. He blinked a couple of times to clear his head before spitting out blood and a lose tooth at Sam's feet. "You bitch!" he shouted.

Sam carefully rubbed at her hand. "I want to know what happened on your mission with Colonel O'Neill," she continued calmly.

"Fuck you," he swore at her.

Sam didn't hesitate to hit him again. And again. She had all night.

"Alright, alright!" he finally sputtered, spitting more blood on the floor. "We were ambushed. Morris went down under Jaffa fire and O'Neill went back to get her, ordering us to get back to the gate and open it up. Morris must have been dead, though, because O'Neill came running back, her tags in his hand, waving for us to go through. He was almost there when a wild shot hit him from behind. I checked his pulse and found none. So I grabbed his tags and high-tailed it back to the SGC."

Sam had stood deathly still through his recitation, knowing that every word that fell from his lips was complete bull. She glanced at Teal'c and he carefully chose a small taser from the line of equipment Bill had provided and handed it to her.

"I want to know what happened on your mission with Colonel O'Neill," she repeated calmly. "I want to know who you take your orders from."

Wash eyed the taser, fear beginning to bloom in his eyes. "They _will_ kill you," he threatened. "It's only a matter of time."

"Who?" Sam asked harshly, holding the crackling taser inches from his skin. "Who?"

Wash licked his lips and sighed. "The NID."

"The NID ordered the deaths of General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill?" Sam asked in clarification.

Wash nodded.

"I want names," Sam demanded.

"I don't know any names!" he swore.

Sam pressed the taser to his arm. She told herself that what made her different from the Goa'uld was that she found no pleasure in his screams, but she quickly shoved the thought aside.

"Oh god!" he swore when she stopped. "I just know that York and Mathers are in with them."

"Who else?"

Wash began to snivel quietly. "I've only heard a few other names in passing…"

Sam waited quietly.

"Kinsey," he finally whispered. "Oh man…they're going to kill me…"

Kinsey. Sam felt everything swirl around her for a moment. She had known he was an arrogant fanatic that had it out for the SGC, but she never would have suspected that he would be behind this. That he would be in bed with the NID.

She carefully placed the taser back on the table before she asked the question she dreaded. It was morbid, but she had to know. "How did you kill them?" she demanded, holding his head steady in one hand, winding up the other for another punch.

But Wash didn't need it. He was already broken, blubbering softly, swearing to tell them everything. That was the problem with bullies; they were rarely more than surface and cracked under the slightest pressure.

"We took their tags and made them kneel on the edge of a ravine. Morris was crying and O'Neill was whispering to her, all the while tugging at his restraints. York gave me a staff weapon and said, 'Kinsey sends his regards, Colonel.' Then York ordered me to shoot them."

Wash closed his eyes and swayed slightly in the chair, blood dribbling down his chin.

"And then what?" Sam ordered in a rasp.

"I shot Morris, knocking her body off the edge of the cliff. O'Neill swore at us and stared me in the eye the whole time. I…I didn't want to do it, but I knew York would kill me too if I didn't!"

Sam walked a few paces away, willing her stomach to stop its tumultuous play. She would not throw up in front of this worthless piece of trash. That Jack would meet death in such a way. And Morris, whose only crime was the poor luck to have been deemed disposable by her superiors.

Wash swallowed compulsively before confessing in a small garbled voice, "I think I missed."

Sam's head snapped up. She crossed the room and grabbed him roughly by the jaw, feeling it give as she shook him. "What did you just say?" she growled.

"I was nervous," he mumbled through the blood and pain. "My shot went wide, hitting O'Neill high on the chest. He was knocked off the cliff, though."

Sam turned all her concentration on controlling her breathing, falling back against the hard wall. In and out, in and out, waiting for the world to right itself again. The minutes passed in agonizing silence as Sam tried her best not to completely lose it.

"Are you saying he could have survived?" she finally asked with deceptive calm.

Wash shook his head. "No…it was a tall cliff…rocks below. I don't think-"

"You don't _think_?" Sam snarled, venom dripping from every word.

Wash flinched under her gaze. "Well…maybe…possibly…," he said weakly.

Sam rounded on him, yelling in a raw voice. "Maybe! Possibly! You think!" Each word was punctuated with a solid thud of her fist hitting his flesh.

She wanted to kill him, knew he deserved it. She wanted to kill him with nothing more than her bare hands, beating him slowly to death. Teal'c understood better than to try and stop her. She was well within her rights.

But something penetrated her bloodlust, broke into the sound of fists striking flesh.

"_Killing a man is no badge of honor, Captain," Jack warned her softly._

"_I know." _

"_Look, I'm no expert on this thing," he said, waving Hanson's Bible. "I generally read one commandment, and I think it's the first."_

_"I am the Lord your God and you shall take no other gods before me?" _

_Jack smiled and shook his head. "Okay, so it's not the first one. I'm talking about the 'no killing' one. No matter what the reason, every time you break it, you take one step closer to Hanson."_

The words echoed in her ears, as if he had just whispered them to her.

Her fists abruptly dropped to her sides. She turned away from the unconscious bloody lump of a man, closing her eyes for a moment, letting calculated calm replace the lust of revenge. No one deserved to be beaten to death.

She grabbed the zat and fired at the man rapidly three times.

Now all that remained of him was the blood staining Sam's skin.

She had willingly taken a step closer to that darkness Jack had warned her about. There was no pleasure, no revenge to be found. Just quick death. In the end, Wash was too much of a threat to her team to let him live. It was too early to show their hand. She had done what she had to do.

Wash could no longer spill their secrets. He could no longer betray the good men and women of the SGC and Earth.

And if she had to, Sam knew she would do it again.


	5. Shower

Title: Outside the Lines: Shower  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

_Shower_

Scalding water tore into Sam's skin. She watched the crimson flow circle the drain, wishing her sins could so easily wash away. She leaned her head into the stream, resting her forehead against the cool tile. Clenching her eyes shut against the view.

Her head swirled with the events of the night, flooding her brain, making it impossible to think. Fists and flesh. Blood and sweat. Life and death.

She would cry, but there were no more tears. She would puke, but she wasn't sure she was human enough to do it anymore. So instead she just remembered.

_Jack. Alive. Maybe. Possibly._

_Every one of her instincts screamed for her to get through the gate as soon as possible. Her conscience swore at her for every wasted moment, every day she had waited, playing it safe. Had she killed him with her caution?_

_Staring at her bloodied hands, she mastered every careless impulse, forcing herself to look up at Teal'c._

_He stared back at her and she felt he looked into every corner of her soul. There was no accusation, no disgust. Like he didn't see the blood…_

"_Teal'c…do you think…is it possible?"_

"_It has been many days."_

_Fourteen days to be exact, Sam's mind supplied. With an unknown amount of injuries and no supplies, could anyone survive fourteen days?_

"_And would he not have returned if he was able?"_

_Another important question. If he was alive, where was he? Did he think it was too dangerous to return? Did he assume she had followed his last order and disappeared somewhere on Earth? Did he think there was nothing to return to?_

"_It seems unlikely," Teal'c finally answered._

_Sam slowly slid down the wall to sit on the hard floor, cursing the bout of hopefulness as it fled, leaving her even emptier than before._

"_But it is O'Neill," he qualified._

_Sam stared up at Teal'c and tried to read him. Bill's words floated around her head. 'Damn, I thought that guy had more lives than a frickin' cat.'_

_Jack O'Neill…intrepid leader of SG-1, the most bizarrely lucky team in the history of the SGC. Could he beat the odds? No matter how bad?_

"_There is always a chance, Major Carter," Teal'c said, holding his hand out to Sam._

_She reached out and took it, letting him pull her to her feet. She stared at her hand, carefully clenched in his. Hands that had killed. She pulled abruptly away and began pacing around the small room._

"_I need to…," Sam started, unable to completely put it into words._

_But Teal'c was already there, reading her intentions. "It would be most difficult for you to access the Stargate, Major Carter."_

_Chained to a desk. Sam had never felt more claustrophobic than she did now. Trapped. She would raise far too many suspicions if she tried to get off-world. Daniel was the same, an asset too important to risk with gate travel. Only one of them had legitimate access to the gate anymore._

_Sam raised her eyes to look at Teal'c, realizing that he had already reached the same conclusion. "I believe that it is time I returned to my family, Major Carter. I find that with the death of O'Neill and the disbanding of SG-1, I have no compelling reason to stay among the Tau'ri."_

_Sam closed her eyes for a moment, knowing this cover story was their only chance to find out what had happened to Jack. Restlessness filled her. She wanted to be the one to go, she needed to be the one to go. But she had her own role to play. Kinsey. Mathers. York._

_She opened her eyes and met Teal'c's with a steady gaze. "I think that's a good idea, Teal'c."_

_Sam wasn't quite sure how she would finish this without him and she found herself leaning in to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He hesitated for only a moment before returning the gesture. _

"_Bring him home, Teal'c." At the very least, the grave next to young Charlie O'Neill's would no longer be empty._

"_You may be certain of it." Teal'c pulled back from Sam and surprised her by kissing her gently on the forehead. "Be well."_

_Sam nodded silently, but as Teal'c left the room, he paused at the threshold, turning back to her. His eyes glanced at the now empty chair and back to Sam. "Our regrets are what make us human, Major Carter, but it does no good to dwell."_

_Sam couldn't pretend not to understand what he meant. But she really wished she could._

The shower began to run cold and Sam reached out and shut it off. She rested her weary body against the tile. Pulling it together, so she could stand calmly by Daniel's side, saying a convincing farewell to Teal'c at the SCG. Stiffening her spine, so she could ignore the way Daniel's eyes no longer quite met hers. Pretend that he wasn't disappointed in her.

Pretend that the path in front of her wasn't endless and treacherous. That she wasn't walking it alone.

After a deep breath, she grabbed a towel and began to rub her skin dry.

One foot in front of the other.


	6. Falling

Title: Outside the Lines: Falling  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

Author's Note: Sorry this is so long coming. I got sucked into Harry Potter 6. It pretty much short-circuited my brain and I wasn't sure my muse would ever recover. Seriously lost the thread of this little fic, but I think I'm back on! The next bits should be pretty quick. Thanks for all the lovely feedback! So glad to know you are enjoying it.

_Falling_

She was falling, crashing towards the floor, knocking a tray as she went. Her body curled as softly to the ground as she could manage, keeping her head from smacking into the concrete. She kept her eyes tightly closed.

There were voices all around her and hands touching her skin. Someone called for a medic. In complete stillness she waited, listening for the brisk clip of Janet's approach and her capable voice giving orders.

_Sam didn't want to involve her. She couldn't risk her or Cassie, but she had reached a wall. It was only a matter of hours, or days if she was really lucky, until Wash's disappearance became suspicious. She needed an exit strategy. One that wouldn't leave Daniel in danger._

"_Janet," she said softly. "I need you to do something for me."_

_Janet automatically opened her mouth, but Sam smoothly spoke over her. "Absolutely no questions asked."_

_Janet shut her mouth, but her eyes continued to burn into Sam's skin. She could feel her taking in every dark shadow, her expression letting Sam know what she wasn't as ignorant of events as Sam would like to believe._

"_Please, Janet. I wouldn't ask if there wasn't something vital at stake." _

_Janet's curiosity was obviously warring with her sense of duty to her friends. She eventually nodded, though, placing one hand on Sam's. "Just promise me you'll be careful."_

_Sam silently met her friend's concerned gaze, strangely unable to let the lie fall from her lips._

They were lifting her carefully onto a gurney. Fingers pressed to her pulse points and hovered over her lips, feeling for her breath. She remained impassive.

Through her lids she could she the flicker of passing lights overhead as they sped through the corridors. They did little to dispel the memories that chose this moment to attack her as she lay alone in the darkness of her own mind.

_Daniel sat across a small table from her, but the distance between them seemed even greater. The brown bag that contained Daniel's new life sat near their feet again._

_He played with his drink, making abstract patterns in the condensation. Sam couldn't quite remember the last time she'd felt the full impact of his gaze. Not so long ago she had clung to him seeking comfort, his body curling around hers._

"_I won't run," he said softly._

"_I have to leave, Daniel. I need answers. I need proof."_

"_I understand that."_

"_There won't be anyone left to watch your back."_

"_I'll just have to hope that they think I'm more valuable to the program than I am a threat to them," he observed. _

_Sam wondered when exactly Daniel had become a tactician. Then again, he had always been a student of human behavior._

_Sam pushed the bag back towards him. "Keep it," she said. "Just in case."_

_Daniel looked intently at the bag for a while before lifting his gaze to finally meet hers. "Okay," he whispered._

_They stared at each other for long moments._

_Saying goodbye._

A hefting jerk brought Sam back to her surroundings. Monitors began to beep and there was the prick of needles in her flesh.

Janet's cool fingers trailed over the back of Sam's hand and she registered the barest whisper. "Rest."

Sam's thoughts began to slow and just before the darkness claimed her she realized that Janet had drugged her. But there was no more time to protest.

_Janet pressed a mug of coffee into Sam's hands. "You working through the night again?"_

_Sam smiled gratefully up at her, taking the cup. "Yeah. Lots of work to do. Thank you."_

_"Look, Sam, there's no doubt you're going to solve this, but you have to accept the fact it's going to take time."_

"_Yeah, well if I think that way, it could take months."_

_"Daniel says the Tollan could have a ship in the vicinity of Edora some time next year."_

_Sam sighed and put the coffee cup down, willing the numbers to make sense. "He shouldn't have to wait that long," she replied, not bothering to look up from the screen in front of her._

_"You miss him."_

_It was a casual, gentle comment, but Sam could hear the warning beneath it. "Yeah," Sam admitted before she was even aware of the answer._

_"Is this a problem?"_

_"No. No, of course not," Sam quickly said, forcing herself to meet Janet's eyes._

_"Okay," she softly replied after a long pause, but Sam could tell she didn't really believe her._

_But Sam knew the truth. She would never let her emotions get in the way of her duty. When she looked back down at her keyboard, though, it was to find her fingers smeared with blood and Teal'c's voice whispering in her ear._

"_What is right cannot be measured by strength…"_

Sam started awake to the sound of nearby voices. Janet, Bauer and Mathers were discussing her.

"Any idea why she fainted, Doctor?" Mathers was asking. Sam wasn't sure if she was imaging things or not, but he sounded suspicious.

"I can't say I'm surprised that this has happened, sir," Janet replied calmly. "She's been working herself to death these last few weeks. From her tests it's also clear that she hasn't been eating well or getting enough sleep. Add to that everything that's happened…"

"But she'll be alright?" Bauer chimed in.

"Yes, sir. She just needs rest. I would suggest at least a week off duty, but good luck convincing her of that."

Sam chose that moment to stir awake. Time to see if this little gamble worked. She pried open her eyes, grimacing against the hard glare of the room's lighting. Raising one hand to her eyes she groaned, displeased to find that she didn't have to fake it. Her head really was spinning a little bit.

They were immediately all by her side. "Sam? How are you feeling?" Janet asked kindly.

Sam looked up at Janet. "What happened?"

"You fainted," she replied, but it was accompanied by a hard glare that told Sam she hadn't had to adjust her levels all that much. Sam was close enough to exhaustion and malnutrition without doctoring her chart. Janet was not pleased. "You've been skipping meals and not getting enough sleep, Major."

Sam resisted rolling her eyes and pushed up from the bed instead. "I'm fine, really."

"Obviously not, Major," Bauer jumped in. "I'm going to have to insist that you take some time off."

Sam put up a good show of protest until Bauer was forced to make it a direct order. Sam crossed her arms mutinously but acquiesced, not letting her sense of victory show. A week off to find the answers she needed.

Mathers stood behind Bauer the whole time, silently watching Sam closely. After a while he seemed satisfied and wandered off over to Janet, taking Sam's chart and examining it.

When he was out of earshot, Sam was surprised to feel Bauer's hand hesitantly cover hers.

Her eyes flew to his face, but she didn't say anything.

Bauer glanced back at Mathers and then stared intently at the monitor by Sam's bed. "Take a few days, Major," he said quietly. "Do what you need to do."

Sam remained still in complete shock. Bauer gently squeezed her hand, his eyes meeting hers for just a moment. There was something there she couldn't quite name. Something she couldn't believe she had seen. Understanding? Permission?

Before she could gather an appropriate response, Bauer walked away. "I'll leave her to your capable hands, Dr. Fraiser," he said as he passed out the doorway.

Sam closed her eyes, not wanting Mathers' shrewd gaze to take in her confusion. Was Bauer trying to tell her that he was on her side? Or was he trying to get her to trust him so he could figure out what she was doing? Then why help her escape the SGC for a few days?

The questions swirled endlessly, serving only to bring on a migraine. She pushed Bauer's questionably loyalties into the same box she kept her probably misguided hopes for Jack and locked it tightly. Fairytales had no place in the game she was playing.

She would rest. Just for a couple of hours. Then she would board a plane and finish this. Once and for all.

Her eyes drifted shut with the hum of machinery and the click of Janet's heels as her lullaby.

Just a little longer.


	7. Trapped

Title: Outside the Lines: Trapped  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

_Trapped_

The room was what you would expect from a maximum security military prison. White walls, white bars and sterile air. A single window high in the wall emanated a small shaft of natural light that patterned the back wall, breaking the overall harshness. Just enough to remind the inhabitants of what they have lost.

Movement in the nearest cell tore Sam's attention from the patch of sunlight. As if in slow motion, her eyes followed the gentle sway, her ears registering a taunt creak. Like a pendulum in an old clock, she absently thought. The harried voices and clanking of opening bars were distant and unimportant to Sam.

Less than 24 hours earlier she had stood in the same spot. She had slipped away from the SGC, spending two days in San Diego, playing her part, visiting her family, all the while figuring out her next move. Desperation had finally forced one 'Stacy Miller' to board a flight to Washington D.C. Pure pluck, or perhaps foolishness in retrospect, had led Sam to the cell of one Colonel Harry Maybourne, incarcerated traitor and one-time member of the illusive NID.

_To say he looked startled when she walked in would be an understatement. His eyes widened, darting from her to the security cameras._

_She barely took two steps into the room before he spoke. _

"_You want some advice?"_

_Sam looked at him in surprise before nodding briefly._

"_Disappear. Walk away as fast as you can and never look back."_

'_Never look back.' His choice of words haunted Sam, but she stubbornly pushed them aside, refusing to submit to second guessing. Maybourne clearly was not in the dark as to recent events. _

"_Tell me how to bring them down," she said without preamble, trusting him to know what she meant._

_Maybourne's eyes widened. "The NID?" he said incredulously, his eyes darting uncomfortably towards the security camera again._

_Sam stepped up the bars and nodded once more._

"_You can't bring them down, Major. And they'll just kill you for trying."_

_Catching Maybourne off-guard, Sam reached a hand through the bars, grabbed his collar and pulled him ruthlessly against them. "Like they did General Hammond? Like they killed Jack?" she said harshly, clinging to her anger, knowing it was the only thing keeping her upright._

_Maybourne's eyebrows rose at her use of Jack's first name, but his expression remained serene as if he was unconcerned that she might actually hurt him. He glanced down at her hand that gripped his shirt with white knuckles and cocked his head at her. Almost as if asking if she really thought this was the way to get him to help her._

_Sam released him with a small push causing him to stumble a few steps back._

"_I can't help you," he said, turning his back on her and lying down on the thin government issue cot._

"_Can't? Or won't?" Sam accused._

_Maybourne sighed, maybe accepting that she wasn't going to be so easily put off. He rolled into a sitting position and met her gaze squarely. "Major, you are walking a very dangerous line and frankly, you have absolutely nothing to offer me. And even if you did, I _can't_ help you."_

"_Why not?" Sam asked defiantly with her arms crossed stubbornly._

_Maybourne watched her with a strange gleam in his eye; it might have been esteem or perhaps something slightly less gentlemanly. "Major…as much as I respect your tenacity and loyalty, in this case it is misplaced. Take your out while you still have it."_

"_No."_

"_No? Goddammit Major, you once accused me of being a shortsighted idiot, but you are really gunning for my title here."_

_Sam continued to stare mutinously._

"_You've already lost," he finally said with brutal exasperation. "This was over before it started. The moment Hammond died all of your fates were sealed."_

_Sam had to look away from him then, pacing a few steps before the bars._

"_They've already won and there is nothing you can do about that. You just need to accept that."_

"_Never," she whispered fiercely and when she met Maybourne's eyes she finally saw just a hint of fear lurking there. Whether for her or of her, she couldn't be sure._

"_He wouldn't want you to get yourself killed over this," Maybourne dared to say softly. _

"_None of that matters anymore," Sam replied, turning her back on him. She placed a card on the table in the middle of the room. "If you change your mind…"_

_Maybourne didn't reply, but as she knocked on the door for the guards to let her out, she thought she heard him whisper, "Good luck, Major."_

She had spent the rest of the afternoon in a park near her hotel sitting on a bench, acknowledging that she was way out of her element. She had flown fighters over enemy territory, survived the torture of sadistic aliens and rewritten her fair share of scientific laws. But this was different. This was a world of shady back rooms and double speak, black ops and terminations. Her instinct to turn to her CO for guidance was as ingrained as it was pointless. There was no Jack or Hammond or Teal'c to help her anymore.

A restless night's sleep found her blearily heading out of her hotel room, but offered no new inspirations. As she pushed out of the lobby, however, the clerk called her back.

"There's a message for you, ma'am."

He handed her a small yellow slip. Maybourne wanted to talk to her. Sam prayed that this was the break she needed.

All her hopes were ruthlessly smashed the moment she stepped back into that cell. Like some sick marionette doll, Harry Maybourne hung from the beams of his cell with a noose tight around his neck. An inglorious end to an ignominious man.

After long moments of staring at Maybourne's gently swinging body, the vivid purple of his face contrasting obscenely with the orange of his clothes, the significance finally sunk in. They knew she had been here. Because while Maybourne may have been on death row for treason, he would never have taken his own life.

They had killed him to keep him quiet.

Adrenaline made Sam oddly still and her gaze methodically swept the cell. She noted the unplugged security camera and the carefully folded blankets. Her eye was caught by a small piece of paper on the floor. She squeezed an arm into the cell and grabbed the crumpled scrap, slipping it into her pocket.

She gave one last glance to Maybourne's body, knowing what it meant.

They were on to her.

The thought propelled her out the door, past the scrambling guards, ignoring every shout that followed her down the halls.

She didn't pause until she was outside the building, pulling her cell phone from her pocket. The numbers blurred and her fingers trembled. There was no guilt for the murdered traitor swinging grotesquely from the rafters, even as she began to realize that he had been correct. She had been shortsighted.

Her thoughts crystallized into one pulsating focus.

Daniel.


	8. Objects at Rest

Title: Outside the Lines: Objects at Rest  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

_Objects at Rest_

The bench was hard beneath Sam's back, but the pain did not register. Nothing seemed to matter other than one brutal fact.

She had failed.

Samantha Carter doesn't fail. She always came through, no matter how bleak, no matter how improbable the situation. People looked to her and she came up with a brilliant fix.

It was a complete shock to her system to realize now, the time that it mattered most, that she had failed. She had no crazy solution, no daredevil antics. Just a silent cell phone and a hard wooden bench beneath her immobile form.

She had dialed every one of Daniel's numbers frantically, realizing that if the NID was on to her, then Daniel was in danger. She had heard nothing but endless ringing and the cheery sound of Daniel's voice on his message machine. Finally, in a fit of desperation she had called Janet.

"_Sam? Sam, is that you? Where have you been? We've been trying to get a hold of you!"_

_Her uncharacteristically shrill tone tied Sam's stomach in knots. "What's happened?" Sam asked in barely more than a rasp._

"_It's Daniel… He's disappeared. We've looked everywhere, but…"_

_Sam sank bonelessly into a nearby bench. Not Daniel…_

"_His apartment was trashed," Janet continued. "Jesus, Sam. Just tell me what the hell is going on."_

_Sam found that she had no tears, not a single ounce of emotion left as her world finally fell into nothing more than shattered pieces at her feet. _

"_Listen to me, Janet," she said in a low serious voice. "You need to forget about all of this. Stop asking questions and forget you ever knew us."_

_Sam heard a strangled sound of protest on the other end but ignored it. "I mean it, Janet. If you love Cassie…" Sam's voice broke and she took a deep breath. "You're her mother first. You have to do this to protect her."_

_There was a long silence and Sam could just imagine her friend's face as she struggled between her responsibility to her child and her friends. "God, Sam…How did it come to this?"_

But Sam knew exactly how it had come to this.

Hammond, Jack, Maybourne. And now all evidence pointed to Daniel.

Sam pushed to her feet and began pacing down the winding paths of the city park. There was nothing left to fight for. No more moves to make. Part of her wanted to go back to that bench and wait for the NID to finally catch up to her.

Instead, she thrust her hands into her pockets and furiously strode down the paths. It was long minutes before she realized that her fingers were absently playing with the scrap of paper she had found in Maybourne's cell.

She pulled it out, gently smoothing out the crinkled paper. One word stood out starkly against the white sheet.

_Kinsey_.

The word was like a bolt of lightning for Sam, galvanizing her, filling her exhausted body with energy.

Suddenly Sam's head cleared. Maybe she couldn't fix what had been done. Maybe Jack and Daniel really were dead. Maybe they had lost and the NID was now in complete control of the SGC.

But there was still one last thing Sam could do. It was a long shot. It was crazy, dangerous and probably foolhardy.

Which was exactly why it was going to work.


	9. Evidence

Title: Outside the Lines: Evidence  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

_Evidence_

Getting in to Kinsey's colonial neo-classical mansion had been much easier than she would have expected. The Senator obviously needed to get some new consults on his security team. Now she just had to pray that Kinsey was stupid enough to have evidence supporting his involvement with the NID in his house. But at the very least, even if Sam couldn't take the whole NID down, she would at least get the chance to kill Kinsey. She tried not to think about when exactly she had become an assassin.

The dark house was palatial and seemed almost spooky in the silent stillness of the night. The first pair of double doors she tried led to a huge ballroom, but her second try opened into what looked like Kinsey's study.

None of his filing cabinets revealed anything of use, other that the fact that U.S. Senators were grossly overpaid. A search of his desk revealed no hidden drawers or coded papers, but Sam had to remind herself that this wasn't a movie and therefore such things were highly unlikely.

Just as she turned her attention to the small laptop on the desk, the door behind Sam gave a soft creak as it was pushed open. In one swift motion Sam dropped to the floor and pulled out her gun.

A white dog with black spots stared calmly back down the barrel of Sam's gun, his tongue merrily hanging out of his mouth.

Sam suppressed a slightly hysterical laugh and carefully stowed her weapon away. "C'mere, puppy," she said softly, beckoning to the animal that was obviously a very poor guard dog.

The dog bounded over to her and proceeded to lick every exposed inch of Sam's skin. She grabbed at his tags and quietly said, "Hello, Oscar. You wouldn't happen to know where your evil owner keeps all his evil papers, would you?"

Oscar just panted at Sam.

"Figures," Sam mumbled before sitting back up in front of the computer.

A search of Kinsey's hard drive and emails raised the Senator slightly in Sam's estimation. He obviously wasn't as stupid as he looked.

She was about to give up and move on to plan B, when one email caught her eye. Tucked in with all the boring announcements of his schedule and constituent concerns was a subscription notice for an online posting board from two years previously.

_Thank you for registering with Dog Lovers of Delaware. We are an online community dedicated to the discussion of our favorite breeds and local dog shows._

Sam skimmed the rest of the email, biting back an annoyed groan when she saw the name Kinsey had registered under: #1American. Pompous ass.

The whole thing just seemed bizarre to Sam and so she followed the link in the email to the board. She was prompted for a password. Sam quickly ran through the most common and egotistical ones such as God, secret, password and sex. Well, chalk another up for Kinsey, none of them worked.

Oscar chose that moment to start drooling on Sam's foot. She frowned at the dog distractedly and looked back at the screen. But then it hit her. She glanced around at all the annoyingly plastic portraits of Kinsey with his trophy wife and his dog. "It can't be that easy…"she said absently, but stuck with her gut anyway and typed in 'Oscar.'

_Welcome, #1American. Thank you for logging on._

Sam shook her head and began skimming through Kinsey's latest posts. The whole board seemed to be a discussion between about ten people and not a single post was about dogs. One that caught her eyes was from someone named EagleEye to Kinsey from just yesterday.

_Dorothy's shown up at Judas' home. Should I terminate?_

She stared at the words for a long time. It didn't take an astrophysicist to read through their inane code. Yesterday she had gone to see Maybourne and apparently it earned both of them a death sentence. Seeing an order for her murder in black and white didn't resonate as much as she would have thought. It was their name for her that made her sway on the spot.

_The tunnel was dark and full of fleeing children wearing hoods. Sam rushed along the passage, following closely behind her father. _

_Jacob pulled roughly on a figure's robes, revealing the glowing eyes of an extremely pissed off Seth. Before Sam could even open her mouth, a bright pulse of energy knocked Jacob roughly into the wall._

_Seth sneered and shoved his way through his former followers._

"_Dad!" Sam cried as she fell to her knees beside him._

_But it was not Jacob that answered. "Your father will survive," Selmak reassured her. "Stop Seth," she demanded before pressing a ribbon device into Sam's hands. _

_Sam felt a sick weight in her stomach at the feel of the cool metal. "How? I can't control this." _

"_You have the will within you. You must summon it."_

_Sam suppressed the panic that welled in her throat. She was the only one who could do this. The ribbon device slipped over her wrist with sickening ease. She determinedly pushed to her feet, pushing all other thoughts from her mind. _

"_Hey!" she cried after Seth's retreating back. _

_He turned back and raised his device, but Sam had already lifted hers. She felt an uncontrollable build up in her body that was almost painful in its intensity. Like releasing a pent up breath, Sam forced the energy towards the man in front of her. _

_Seth was flung towards the floor like a rag doll._

_But he didn't stay down and he struggled to raise his weapon once more. _

_Without much conscious thought, a vicious anger rose in Sam and she flung it towards him once more. With a nauseating crunch Seth's body was broken, half buried in the hard dirt of the floor._

_Daniel and Jack appeared at her side as Sam stared in horror at the gruesome sight._

"_You killed him," Daniel said in awe. _

"_Hail Dorothy," Jack remarked lightly._

_But Sam just felt a roiling nausea at what she so easily done, wondering what sort of person that made her._

Sam shook off the memory and forced her attention back to the task at hand. She knew this was no time to relive the past, even as Jack's voiced echoed in her ear. _Hail Dorothy_.

Sam determinedly skimmed through weeks of Kinsey's posts, the majority between #1American and EagleEye. One series of posts that finally had Sam breathing heavily was dated five weeks previously.

_The Wizard refuses to listen to reason. Obviously lacks any sense of self-preservation. Please advise._

_The Wizard is old, has a bad heart, it would be a shame if his poor health caught up with him._

_Understood_.

Sam's vision began to blur in anger as she continued to read the file that oh-so-casually outlined the murder of the most important people in Sam's life. It was more evidence than she could have imagined finding. The takeover of the SGC was meticulously documented in the detached language of people who had no qualms about playing with people's lives.

She quickly saved herself a copy of the correspondence and Kinsey's subscription email onto a portable hard drive.

Sam heard the crunch of tires outside and Oscar's low whine at the same time. Without much conscious thought, Sam used some of her precious last moments to send out an email and place a single phone call. "I'm running out of time," she mumbled quietly to herself.

"I think that just about sums it up, Major."

Sam spun around to find Kinsey calmly pointing a gun straight at her heart.

Time's up.


	10. Exit Strategy

Title: Outside the Lines: Exit Strategy  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

_Exit Strategy_

One, two, three, four.

Turn around.

One, two, three, four.

Sam quickly discovered that her cell was only four paces wide, roughly the length of the rock hard cot. Overall, though, it was the lap of luxury compared to some of the hellholes SG-1 had managed to land themselves in over the years. The natives on P7I-725 had once locked them in a pigsty when Jack had inadvertently insulted the chieftain's mother. That had definitely been worse. Although in some ways, Sam found the overbearing sterility of this place more disturbing.

Not to mention the solitude.

Sam shook off the thought and paced the length of her prison a couple more times before collapsing on her bunk and pulling her knees into her chest.

"If only Dad could see me now," she mumbled humorlessly to the empty room.

Not bothering to wait for a response that would never come, Sam dropped her head onto her arms in exhaustion; replaying the events of the night over and over in her mind.

_Sam glanced from the gun pointing at her to the sinister black SUVs sitting just beyond the property line. Kinsey's backup and clean up, if need be. Sam made the quick decision that she had little chance of firing her way out of here._

_She knew it didn't matter._

"_You've got some nerve…," Kinsey finally sputtered angrily._

_Sam raised an eyebrow in a passable imitation of Teal'c. "I could say the same thing about you." She gestured at the laptop. "At least I've never ordered the murder of a two-star general."_

_Kinsey's sneer dissolved disturbingly into a calm smile. "You know, I must say I'm disappointed. You had a lot of potential and were, of course, quite invaluable to the program. It might have kept you alive if you had only been smart enough to know your place. But obviously Jack O'Neill was too much of a bad influence on you. It's a shame, really. We had plans for you."_

_Sam tamped down the instinctual anger at hearing Jack's name fall so casually from Kinsey's lips. The same mouth that ordered his death. Sam felt color flood her cheeks in anger._

_Kinsey's eyes traveled over her face before he leered. "Maybe I'm not that surprised after all. Friendless, honorable Major Carter is looking for a little revenge, isn't she?"_

"_I'm not that honorable," she managed to growl, her fingers longing for the weapon pinching her flesh at the small of her back. The vision of Kinsey in a pool of his own blood swam beguilingly before her eyes. It was probably the first time she had ever wished for the gentle curl of a ribbon device around her wrist._

"_Yes, well, larceny certainly isn't an Air Force endorsed hobby," Kinsey commented, "but that's hardly what I meant."_

_Sam knew what he meant. If their places were reversed, he would have just killed her in her sleep. Or at least paid someone else to do it. But Kinsey had no idea what it was costing Sam to sit calmly in her chair and listen to the perverse crap coming out of his mouth. Or how close he had come to that fate himself._

_The click of Kinsey cocking his weapon brought Sam's attention back to the man in front of her._

_Some form of surprise must have shown on her face, because he said, "You didn't really think that you would get out of here alive, did you?"_

_But just as the words left his mouth there was the sound of wailing sirens in the distance. Kinsey looked at Sam in complete shock._

_Sam stood up. "That must be my ride," she said with a smirk._

"_You called the police?" he asked incredulously._

"_Just another little something I learned on my time in SG-1. Always have an exit strategy." _

_She calmly walked to the window to see three squad cars pull recklessly into the driveway just as the ubiquitous black SUVs disappeared down the street. That was the problem with Kinsey and his goons; they were far too concerned with appearances. _

"_So it seems that you have two choices here, Senator. Put the gun away and let them arrest me for breaking and entering; or shoot me and let them arrest you for murder. Personally, I'm happy either way."_

_Kinsey gaped unattractively until the sound of feet pounding on the stairs galvanized him into action. He stowed his gun and hissed, "Do you really think that police custody will keep you safe? We got to Maybourne easily enough."_

_Sam knew he was right, but she was only concerned with one thing at this moment, leaving Kinsey's house alive. That was all that mattered, and the police could easily help her with that._

_She didn't have time for a retort because in the next instant the room was swarming with policemen. They grabbed her roughly by her shirt and slammed her face down on the closest table. A quick pat-down revealed her weapon, cell phone and portable hard drive._

_Hawk-eyed Kinsey didn't waste his chance. "Officer, I believe that is mine," he said, pointing at the memory device. "She must have pilfered it from my desk."_

"_We need to keep it as evidence, Senator."_

_Kinsey moved a step closer to the officer, peering at his badge. "I'm afraid, Officer Turner, that it contains sensitive government records and I simply can't allow it to leave my sight. Classified and all that. I'm sure you understand." The whole speech was very well done and Sam could see the officers glancing at each other in indecision. _

_Kinsey stepped forward and pulled the device gently from the police man's fingers, making the decision for him. "Thank you, Officer, you are doing your country a great service," he simpered elegantly._

_The officers shrugged and went back to handcuffing Sam. They knew it was potentially dangerous to go against an influential Senator and probably didn't think it was worth the trouble in the end. Kinsey pocketed Sam's evidence and threw her a triumphant smirk._

_Sam didn't bother reacting. Let him have his hollow victories. His time was fast coming, because while Sam may be a lot of things, she was no fool. _

_Plans within plans._

_Senator Kinsey was about to learn the price for messing with Major Samantha Carter._

Thirty-six hours later in her very own jail cell, Sam was admittedly feeling slightly less certain. Her prison had a little too much in common with Maybourne's for comfort. Not that any assassins had crept in through the impossibly small windows, but Sam still couldn't sleep particularly well.

As the hours crept by, the lack of activity and sleep was beginning to get to her. The last thing she needed at this juncture was unlimited time to evaluate every decision she had made and everyone that they had managed to take from her. All the 'what ifs' had the power to drive her crazy.

She finally managed to quiet her mind enough to doze off just as the dawn sky began to illuminate the stark room.

_The mines were quiet. Teal'c sat nearby doing his best to kelnorim and conserve his energy for another day under the whips of the fake Jaffa. It had now been days since Daniel last came to see them, his eyes burning bright as if with a fever. Jack's anger at Daniel's seeming inability to understand that they were slowly dying in these mines had not faded as the days passed._

_Sam knew she should rest as well, but as ridiculous as it sounded, she was almost too tired to sleep, like if she closed her eyes she might not open them again. She wasn't sure how she could possibly pry her body off the floor when dawn finally came. Let alone lift the crude tools with her blistered, aching hands. Death was beginning to seem…restful._

"_We're going to get out of here, Carter," Jack whispered to her in the dark, almost as if he had read her mind._

_Sam turned her head to where she knew he sat, letting her eyes slowly adjust to the gloom. "Yes, sir," she whispered back, but there was no conviction in her voice._

_A slight scuffling sound reached her ears and then a warm body settled down next to hers. "I mean it, Carter," he said firmly even as he dropped gentle arm around her._

_Sam leaned gratefully onto his shoulder. "I'm just so tired, sir."_

"_I know. Just rest."_

_Sam closed her eyes and began to relax, but suddenly the fabric under her cheek was damp. She leaned back from Jack to see a gaping wound in his shoulder where her head once lay._

_Jack glanced calmly from the seeping wound to Sam. He reached one hand out to her face. "You can do this, Carter. I have faith in you."_

Sam jerked awake to the sound of clanking keys and rolling bars. Her hand flew to her face, expecting the warm stickiness of blood even as her sterile surroundings began to chase the dream away.

Blinking blearily, two airmen came into focus in front of her. "We need you to come with us, Major."

Sam obediently held out her hands and let them chain her wrists and ankles. "Can you tell me where we're going?" she finally managed to ask in a voice thick with sleep.

The young man just shook his head. "Sorry, Ma'am."

Sam pushed her exhausted body up from the bunk and let them lead her out of her cell and down the hall to the rear of the police station. Her mind began to swirl with the possibilities. An elaborate assassination plot? Transfer to a military prison?

But Sam suppressed the questions and felt calm steal over her. It didn't matter. She would deal with it.

The rear door of the building was pushed open to reveal a military transport. Sam was heaved rather inelegantly into the back of the armored truck only to find herself face to face with Major Paul Davis. He looked her over sternly and gestured for the guards to seat her on a thin bench opposite him.

"Remove the cuffs, Airman," he ordered stiffly.

Once the door had closed behind them and the vehicle began to move, Davis handed her a stack of neatly folded clothes. A dress uniform.

"I guess you got my email, then," Sam said wryly as she carefully took the uniform from him.

For the first time, Davis smiled. "There's someone who'd like to speak with you, Major."

"Who?" Sam asked as her fingers dug into the soft fabric of the uniform.

"The President."


	11. Momentum

Title: Outside the Lines: Momentum  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

_Momentum_

The forested slope looked other-worldly in the moonlight. Back in her BDUs with a P-90 strapped to her chest, Sam could almost believe she was on another planet, that any moment she would hear the sounds of her teammates walking at her side. It only took once glance at the familiar stars to shatter the illusion, though. Sam knew she was truly alone.

Pushing such wistful thought aside, Sam adjusted her pack and continued to climb the steady slope winding through the trees.

_Sam stood at attention before the desk of the President. If she had been there under any other circumstances, she was sure she would be glancing around in interest, taking in the Stuart painting of George Washington and the Eagle emblazoned carpet. But Sam had no energy for tourist worship._

_The President must have sensed some of that, because he was eying her warily from behind his large desk a large file folder in his hands. Sam had just ignored another request to be at her ease. She didn't want to be at ease. She just wanted them to get the hell on with it._

_Davis obviously picked up on that because he spread a file open on the desk. "I received your email at 0800 hours yesterday morning and was able to verify it and get the ball rolling on warrants. We had been investigating various levels of the NID for illegal activity, but had been unable to come up with any evidence. You gave us the leverage we needed, Major."_

"_You have done your country a great service, Major," the President added. "The deaths of Hammond and O'Neill will not go unpunished."_

_For the first time, Sam noticed that the President was angry. She had forgotten that he had always thought of Jack as a hero, no matter how often Jack had refused his offers for a dinner at the White House._

_The President met her eyes steadily. "We will take care of this, I promise, Major."_

_Sam found herself willing to believe him, even as she was unsure where that left her._

_Davis continued updating her on the events of the last 24 hours. "We took Kinsey into custody yesterday morning. Within an hour he was trading information in exchange for his miserable life, as it is."_

"_Meaning?" Sam asked with a growing sense of unease._

"_Meaning that he is trading testimony in exchange for safe harbor."_

_Sam snorted. "There's no where he would be safe."_

"_Not on Earth," Davis commented mildly._

_Sam's stomach clenched at the thought of Kinsey wiling his life away on some distant tropical planet. Well, at least there was always a chance the Goa'uld might take interest in his new home._

"_Please, Major," the President said again, gesturing towards a chair. _

_Sam finally acquiesced, sinking into the chair, realizing that she was finally at the end. She had proven the guilt of the NID, she had made sure they paid for the deaths of her friends. The tension didn't leave her shoulders, though._

"_Any word from Daniel or Teal'c?" Sam forced herself to ask._

_Davis and the President shared another inscrutable look. "Nothing about Dr. Jackson," the President said quietly. "It was our understanding that Mr. Teal'c had returned home for good?"_

_Sam sank further back in her chair, deflated. She couldn't quite bring herself to speak of her hidden hopes for Teal'c and his desperate search. They should have heard something, anything by now._

_Sam sighed and looked at the two men who were still watching her expectantly. She felt her brow crease. There was something in the tension of the room that caught Sam's attention. Sam finally realized the surrealism of her situation. Uncovering a NID plot, no matter how far-reaching, was no reason for a personal meeting with the President. _

_Something wasn't right._

_Sam glanced from Davis to the President. "Why am I really here?" she asked bluntly._

_She saw the President wince slightly and look at Davis._

"_The truth is, Major, we lost contact with the SGC just over 20 hours ago," Davis supplied._

"_Excuse me?" Sam asked in disbelief, sitting forward in her chair._

"_At 1130 hours yesterday we received a single message from the control room, informing us that they had a foothold situation and that they were implementing the Wildfire protocol."_

_Sam felt blood pounding in her head. Within two hours of Kinsey's arrest an alien force took over the SGC, forcing them to seal themselves off and sever all contact with the outside world? "What an interesting coincidence," Sam mumbled as her mind whirled with the possibilities._

"_We also have our doubts as to the veracity of the foothold situation, but we can't risk going in to the Mountain."_

_Sam could read between the lines. Chances were that the NID agents inside the SGC had gotten wind of Kinsey's downfall and had fallen back on some sort of a backup plan. But the slightest chance that there was actually an alien incursion in the base kept them from sending in any troops. They were stuck._

_Sam forced herself to meet the eyes of the President, finally realizing why she was really here. It had little to do with her work uncovering the NID conspiracy. Would they have even bothered to get her out of prison if this hadn't happened? She wondered what she must look like to them. A slightly unstable Air Force Major who had taken to breaking in to high level government official's homes. _

_They needed someone to enter the Mountain and check it out. Someone who knew the layout, the people. Someone who understood that they probably wouldn't make it back out, hostile aliens or not. Someone expendable._

_Suicide mission. _

_They knew she had nothing left to lose. Ostensibly, her choice was between going on this mission or rotting away in a cell with nothing but her memories to keep her company. The idea of going out in a blaze of glory for the good of the planet was undeniably appealing. Not that there wasn't a small part of her that just wanted to tell them to just shove it on principle._

_She wondered if this is how Jack felt when he was offered that first mission to Abydos. The thought of Jack was enough to cause her to shift uncomfortably in her chair._

_In the end, she decided to take the mission not out of some misplaced sense of honor or responsibility to the SGC, but because in the calm of the after moments, the draining away of adrenaline, all that was left behind was the reality of the gaping holes in her life. She wasn't ready to face all that she had lost. She wasn't ready to live with what had become her new life._

"_I take it this wouldn't exactly be an officially sanctioned mission," Sam said mildly._

_Davis and the President both visibly relaxed, understanding that she had accepted._

Ten hours later she was tromping through the Colorado forest on a secret mission for the President with no back up. The last twenty four hours had been strange to say the least.

Sam was nearing the hatch at last, when all the hairs at the back of her neck stood straight up. She instinctively dropped to the ground and pulled her weapon. There was someone nearby. Sam strained her ears, filtering out the normal night sounds and the rumble of distant traffic. Minutes passed in excruciating slowness. Then she finally heard the distinct crunch of a foot shifting weight on the rough, uneven ground. Sam forced herself to remain in total stillness for another full minute before slowly circling around to the source of the sound.

Winding silently through the trees and brush, Sam finally spotted a single figure crouched behind a boulder just this side of the hatch. A sentinel, perhaps, sent to watch the only accessible entrance. Maybe she could get some answers as to what was going on below.

Sam crept ever closer and the figure remained clueless, his gaze raptly tied to the hatch ahead of him in the moonlight. One more step and Sam was close enough to press the muzzle of her gun into the back of the neck of the man kneeling before her.

The figure stiffened and let out an audible gasp.

Sam's eyes glanced over the man, taking in his military issue BDUs. "Name and rank, soldier," Sam demanded, grabbing the back of his jacket with her free hand.

The man began to twist around, but Sam just pressed her gun harder into his flesh.

"Sam?"

It was barely more than a low gasp, but Sam would recognize that voice anywhere. She lowered the gun and spun him around.

"Daniel?"

They stared at each other for long moments in the moonlight.

"Jesus, Daniel," Sam whispered. "I thought…" She couldn't quite bring herself to say the word dead, scared that it might break the magical spell that was sitting right in front of her.

"I know…I'm sorry."

"How?" Sam asked inarticulately, completely thrown by the relief coursing through her veins at seeing him again.

"Bauer," Daniel replied, pulling Sam down to sit next to him.

"Bauer?" Sam parroted in disbelief.

"Yeah. He heard what the NID had planned for me and gave me warning." He smiled at Sam. "I think you earned yourself a life-long ally after the whole almost blowing the Mountain up because he didn't listen to you thing."

Sam mulled Daniel's words over, remembering Bauer's strange behavior in the infirmary and the habit he had developed of always asking her opinion. "He took a big risk tipping you off," Sam commented.

"Yeah," Daniel said with a shrug. "I think he knew what I was up to."

Sam stared at Daniel. She had assumed she had gotten him in trouble with her impromptu visit to Maybourne. "What exactly _were_ you up to, Daniel?"

"Everything was getting way out of control, Sam. SG teams sent on reckless missions for mysterious alien technology. Less and less people have been coming back from missions since the day Hammond died."

Something that Sam hadn't even noticed. There was no censure in Daniel's voice, but the implication was there. She had been so tied up on revenge, on making the NID pay, that she hadn't paid attention to what was happening to the people still in the SGC. Guilt began to rise in the back of Sam's throat.

Daniel must have seen something of it on her face, because he shook his head. "Don't Sam. I may not have been very supportive, but I know that what you were doing was important. Someone had to do it."

Sam shook her head, letting it fall back onto the boulder behind her. Their disagreement over Wash seemed so long ago in the scheme of things. But it was always there, right beneath the surface.

Daniel must have been thinking about it to, because he said, "I'm sorry, Sam. I never should have questioned you-."

Sam interrupted him. "No, Daniel. You _should_ have. You did exactly what I needed you to do; you reminded me of the costs. While I was off getting my hands dirtier by the moment, you were here, taking care of all these people."

Sam raised her head to meet Daniel's eyes. She was nearly overwhelmed by the flash of affection she felt for him in that moment. He hadn't refused to run out of some misplaced sense of pride or an inability to comprehend the seriousness of the situation. In typical Daniel fashion, he had understood the need for someone to stay behind and taken it upon himself.

"We've all done what we needed to do, Sam," he said softly.

There was absolution for Sam in his words, but she couldn't accept it.

Looking closer at Daniel, Sam noticed he looked gaunt and there was a new heaviness in his shoulders. It seemed that they had all been forced to play games they were ill-equipped to face.

"What can you tell me about what's going on inside?" Sam asked, brusquely changing the subject.

Daniel looked like he might push for a moment, but they both knew that there were more important issues at hand. "I managed to keep in contact with people inside even after my supposed death."

Sam looked sharply at Daniel. "You told people what was going on with the NID?" It was a risky move, not only putting people in danger, but deciding who was trustworthy.

"I didn't have to, Sam. They aren't stupid. Hammond and all of SG-1 disappear in a matter of months, not to mention that the missions are becoming recklessly dangerous, and people are going to start talking."

Sam conceded the point. She had been far too suspicious of everyone around her to pay attention, but four years together had created a family out of the SGC.

"Who?"

Daniel shrugged. "Generally who you'd expect. Siler, Griff, Reynolds, Dixon. Major Lawrence, too. After all, half of SG-3 was lost on a crazy mission to retrieve naquadah before the weapons test." He pulled off his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Almost every active team has had at least one member injured or killed in the last two months. Only to be replaced by members hand-picked by Mathers."

Sam could imagine the toll that would take on SGC staff. They all did a dangerous job, but the only thing that made it bearable was knowing two things. One, they would never be put in unnecessary danger; and two, they would never be left behind. In the new NID-controlled administration, those promises no longer meant anything.

"Even after I left, I managed to stay in contact with Siler."

Sam looked at Daniel in askance.

He smiled wryly. "Siler has an old buddy named Lance Sterling. Didn't you know?"

Sam found herself smiling back at him. She had to give Daniel credit. He had proven rather savvy.

"Last I heard from Siler, Mathers had accused Bauer of being under alien influence, and was about to lock down the facility. That was 24 hours ago. I've been hanging out here ever since, hoping that someone I knew might make it back out."

Sam glanced at the hatch. "Well, there's only one way to find out what's going on down there." She turned back to Daniel. "Feel up for a little breaking and entering? It seems to be my new hobby."

Daniel raised an eyebrow in confusion, but seemed to accept that stories about her adventures would come later. For now, they had one last monster to put to rest.

Daniel grabbed Sam's proffered hand and let her pull him to his feet. "With you, Sam, I'm up for anything," he said with a smile.

And together, they made their way into the depths of the Mountain.


	12. Incursion

Title: Outside the Lines: Incursion  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

_Incursion_

Sam wasn't too surprised to find herself at gunpoint once again. People seemed to like threatening her with guns. To be honest, though, the more than slightly unstable gleam to Mathers' eyes made the whole experience a bit disconcerting. He couldn't quite seem to decide if he wanted to kill her.

Sam's eyes darted to the ticking counter that cheerfully flashed, reminding her of the slowly approaching self-destruct. Around them, the air was full of discordant sounds. The slight whimper from Walter who lay crumpled near Sam's feet mingled with the grinding sound of the Stargate springing to life. Red lights flashed and klaxons groaned and yet Mathers seemed immune to all of it. Griff's evaluation of the Colonel's mindset was unfortunately spot-on and Sam was beginning to doubt she would be able to talk him down.

"It's over, Mathers. There's no one coming for you. It's over."

Sam's voice was firm and calm, but Mathers jumped as if she had barked at him. His eyes narrowed and his fingers clenched. "Well, you're half right, Major. It certainly is over, at least for you."

As a shot rang out, Sam's only thought was that it was somehow right that she would die here in the control room among the blaring klaxons. It felt a bit like home.

_Climbing down 28 levels on cool metal rungs was no mean feat and Sam could hear Daniel's heavy breathing in the space above her. She couldn't help but think of the last time she had done this, when the SGC had been taken over by aliens with duplicating technology. But she wasn't alone this time._

_At level 17, Sam cautiously pushed the solid door outwards. She listened patiently for any sounds in the hallway before stepping out into the hall. She had just turned back to signal Daniel to join her when she heard the distinct sound of a P-90 being readied to fire right behind her._

"_Crap," Sam mumbled as she raised her hands and slowly turned around to face her new friend. Her eyes met Daniel's for a moment and she almost infinitesimally gestured for him to stay put. He nodded and retreated further into the dark shaft._

"_Hands up!" called a no-nonsense voice from the end of the hall. _

_Sam dutifully raised her arms, but did not drop her weapon. She squinted down the dim hallway, but couldn't see any faces beyond the bright flashlights trained on her._

_There was a gasp from one of the figures. "Major Carter?" someone called out incredulously._

_Sam nodded. "Reporting for duty," Sam said facetiously with a flick of her hands._

_Daniel, meanwhile, had abandoned his perch and climbed out into the hallway. "Major Griff," he exclaimed._

"_Dr. Jackson, good to see you."_

_Soon Sam and Daniel were surrounded by a half dozen soldiers, all of them obviously overjoyed to see them._

_Sam cleared her throat. "As nice as this little reunion is…I need a report on what the hell is going on down here."_

_Everyone snapped to attention at her tone. Griff nodded and ordered three of the soldiers to continue patrolling level 17. Then he gestured for Sam and Daniel to follow him. "I'll take you to our situation room and try to get you caught up to speed."_

_Sam fell in behind him, her eyes roaming over the hallways as they passed. The whole Mountain seemed to be on minimal backup generators and was eerily silent. Flashing red lights just added to the effect that a great catastrophe had suddenly overtaken the normally bustling base. There was no laughter softening the walls, in fact, Sam didn't see evidence of a single other person on the entire way to level 23._

_Griff eventually led them into the MALP room where there was a large table set up in the middle of the room. Siler and Lawrence were both leaning against it deep in discussion. _

"_Look who the cat dragged in," Griff announced dryly._

_Siler looked delighted to see them both, but Sam just made her way to the table to find a large floor plan of the base stretched out on it._

"_Fill me in," she said brusquely._

"_We now have control of levels 17 through 26, but we have not yet secured 27 and 28 or gained control of the Stargate."_

"_We?"_

"_13 soldiers," Griff clarified._

_Sam nodded. "I've been informed that you have a foothold situation."_

_Griff snorted rather indelicately. "No way. We've had a hostile take-over, but not by anything off-world."_

"_Are you positive?" Sam asked. As it was, she could be sure that none of these men were Goa'uld, but she needed to be completely sure. _

"_Yes. Mathers just made that up so he could lock down the Mountain and remove Bauer from of the chain of command."_

"_Where is Bauer?"_

_Griff pointed to a room on level 28. "Last we knew he was being kept here."_

_Sam paced the length of the room. "Okay…so hypothetically, Mathers was informed of the implosion of the NID and decided he needed to shut down the Mountain…to what purpose though?"_

_Griff shrugged. "Not to escape, that's for certain. He's had plenty of opportunities to go through the gate."_

_That was more than strange. Surely he knew that his only chance of escape was to get off-world. "How many men does he have?"_

"_He has five left."_

_Sam quirked an eyebrow at him. "Left?"_

_Griff and Lawrence shared a smile. "We have ten others in custody in the brig on level 18."_

"_And the rest of the personnel?"_

"_Right after he declared Wildfire, Mathers began sending people through to the Alpha Site. Practically emptied the Mountain. But some of us already knew about the shady dealings of the NID with Hammond and O'Neill, thanks to Daniel. There was no way we were just going to meekly go through the gate. We all rallied here and, well, planned a bit of a mutiny."_

"_Well, I'm sure they'll let us all have nice little cells right next to each other," Sam said with a smirk. Sam wandered over to a bank of TVs on the far wall, her mind still processing everything she had learned._

"_Siler hacked into the security feeds for us," Lawrence supplied._

"_Nice," she mildly commented as she skimmed the monitors. There were two men in the gate room and three stalking the halls outside. Sam's eyes lingered on the image of Mathers pacing agitatedly in the control room. She pointed to a slight figure in the bottom corner. "Is that Walter?"_

"_Yes, Ma'am," Siler said. "Mathers has been holding him there. He won't let anyone come through the gate, but it seems like Walter has been careful to put out a signal warning off-world teams not to come through."_

_Sam tried not to think of the various teams that could have met a rather unspectacular end against the iris. Especially not Teal'c. "Has there been a lot of gate activity?"_

_Siler pointed to a list. "I've logged 6 off-world activations in the last 36 hours."_

_Sam pushed thoughts of the gate aside. There would be plenty of time to sort it all out later. Instead, she stared blindly at the feed of Mathers for long minutes, trying to process everything and find the logical solution. "So," she said eventually. "We have them outnumbered. Why not just storm level 28?"_

"_That was our next step," Griff replied._

"_But?" Sam asked when she detected a bit of hesitance in his tone._

_Griff and Lawrence shared a look. "To be honest, we are a little wary of what Mathers might do if his back is pushed to the wall." _

"_What do you mean?" Sam asked._

_Lawrence grimaced apologetically. "Frankly, Major, with no intent to speak poorly of a superior officer…he's completely lost it. He's cracked."_

_Sam watched the man on the monitor again. He did seem highly agitated and was talking…though she couldn't tell with whom. "Do you think he might harm Walter?"_

"_Or blow the whole Mountain to hell. He can do anything from down there, can't he?"_

_At Griff's words, something caught Sam's attention in the lower corner of the screen. "Siler, do you have control of the cameras?"_

"_Yeah, we just haven't because we didn't want to draw attention to them."_

"_I want to see the display screen right next to Walter's left hand." _

_Siler glanced at Griff, but he just shrugged. Sam was the gate expert after all. It took a few minutes for Siler to hack into the camera controls._

"_Yeah, stop right there, and zoom in." Mathers was now staring suspiciously into the camera, but Sam didn't care. Because right before he shot out the camera, Sam saw something that made her blood run cold._

"_Was that what I thought it was?" Daniel asked in a startled voice._

_Sam turned away from the snowy fuzz of the screen and nodded. "Yeah. The self-destruct." She met Griff's eyes over the table. "You know what they say about insubordination. No time like the present."_

_Griff gripped his weapon a little tighter and nodded firmly back at her with a grim smile._

_Less than ten minutes later, Griff's forces had efficiently mustered on level 28. Sam glanced around at the men and women crouched in the dark hallways, their determined faces barely visible in the low light. Pride swelled in her throat, knowing that the NID had thrown their worst at these people, but hadn't broken them. Not by a long shot._

_Sam shifted closer to Griff. "Give me five minutes to try and talk Mathers down and then take the gate room. That should leave at least eight more minutes on the self-destruct." Sam hoped that Mathers would just step aside once he realized he was out numbered, but she was prepared to do whatever was necessary._

_Griff studied her face for a long while, but he must have been satisfied with what he saw, because he finally nodded in agreement._

_Before Sam pushed to her feet, her eyes met Daniel's. She could see him pushing to his feet to follow her, but she shook her head. 'Stay here,' she gestured. His eyes glared mutinously, but Sam just stared back. Eventually, Daniel sighed and nodded once, sinking back to the floor._

_Girff's forces had already dealt with the one guard on this side of the gate room, so Sam had a clear shot at the blast door guarding the control room. She broke out her pocket knife and pried off the security panel. It didn't take her much time at all to rewire the door mechanisms. Crossing the final wire, she gripped her P-90 and stepped to the side as the doors slowly slid open._

_The room remained eerily quiet and Sam stayed low as she crept into the room. The main computer station came into view, but Walter was no longer sitting there. Another step into the room and she froze at the sound of Mathers' voice._

"_That's far enough, Major."_

_Sam dropped down behind the nearest counter for cover. Counting to three, she quickly leaned around the corner to get sight of the source of the voice._

_Not five paces from Sam, Mathers held Walter in front of him like a shield with his gun pointed at his head._

_Sam ducked back behind the counter and took a deep breath. "What is it that you want, Mathers?" Sam asked steadily._

"_Want? I don't want anything. I'm just following my orders!"_

"_And whose orders would those be?"_

_Mathers laughed coldly. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't already know. The brilliant Samantha Carter. They should have listened to me and dealt with you while they had the chance. The way they dealt with your dearly departed O'Neill."_

_Sam took a deep breath and refused to rise to the bait. He was probably hoping she would lose it and charge at him with guns blazing. But Sam hadn't come this far to do something that stupid. "It's over, Mathers. You've lost."_

"_That's where you're wrong. They're coming for me. I just have to hold this base for a little longer."_

_Sam was startled to hear a thread of insanity in his voice. "No one's coming." But before she could say anything else, she heard the sound of someone moving off to her right. Maybe she had been stupid after all; she had let Mathers distract her while someone flanked her._

_Sam threw herself to the floor just in time to avoid the first shot. Quickly regaining her feet she charged at her new assailant, knocking the gun from his hand. She tried to raise her weapon, but the man's foot connected with her wrist. With both of them disarmed, the struggle turned hand to hand. _

_Sam was intent on her opponent, but still registered the echo of gunfire in the room below and the sound of a struggle nearby. After almost a minute of dancing around each other's blows, Sam finally found her opening. Her foot connected solidly with the back of the man's knee, throwing him off balance. Following through, she finished him off with a sharp jab to the chin. He hit the floor with a sickening thud._

_Her only thought now was to retrieve her weapon, but as she reached for it, Mathers called out. "I don't think so, Major."_

_Sam looked up to find Mather's pointing a gun at her with Walter at his feet sporting a bloody lip and a blooming new shiner. Walter had obviously tried to help her as much as he could._

_In the distance the sound of gunfire was winding down and Sam knew that Griff and his people had won. But not in time for her._

The sharp retort of a gun echoed through the control room.

Sam opened her eyes, trying to figure out where she had been hit, but there was no pain. She absently ran her hands over her body before raising her eyes. She wasn't prepared for what she found.

Mathers was crumpled on the ground and behind him, Daniel stood with a Beretta gripped in his white-knuckled hands. His face was ashen, but determined. Daniel slowly lowered his arms, his eyes never leaving the bloody figure on the floor.

Sam must have made some sound because Daniel's gaze met hers. There was nothing to say, so Sam just nodded once at him and turned to the bound Sergeant on the floor. Sam quickly untied him and glanced down at the Gate Room. Slamming her hand down on the intercom, she barked, "Griff! Get your ass up here, pronto!"

Once Griff arrived, the two officers quickly shut off the self-destruct. They had just finally allowed themselves a sigh of relief, when they heard a low groan behind them.

Griff automatically trained his weapon on Mathers. Sam knelt by the fallen man and pressed her fingers to his throat, feeling a steady pulse. Sam looked up at Daniel. "He's alive," she reassured him.

Daniel looked distinctly relieved and ran a shaky hand through his hair.

Sam moved to Daniel's side and squeezed his arm. "Take him to the infirmary," she said to Griff. Sam really wasn't in any position to be giving orders, but no one seemed to question that she was in command. Griff and another airman not so gently heaved Mathers between them and dragged him out of the room. Another airman was carefully tying up Sam's now conscious assailant.

"Major?" Walter interrupted, gesturing towards the gate. It seemed like hours had passed since Sam had first entered this room, and she had almost completely forgotten about the wormhole that was still rippling quietly behind the iris.

"Receiving IDC," Walter clarified when Sam didn't say anything.

"Who is it?" Sam asked.

"Teal'c. This is his fourth attempt. Mathers would never let him through," Walter explained, his tone making it clear what he thought of that.

Sam felt her knees weaken and leaned against the nearest chair. "Open the iris and give him the all clear signal, Sergeant," Sam ordered, her voice surprisingly steady.

"Yes, sir," Walter replied with almost overstated respect, letting it be known to all that he was glad to be receiving her orders.

The iris slowly slid open and a few heart-stopping moments later, two figures appeared out of the brightness.

Jack.

He was actually there. He was leaning heavily against the solid bulk of Teal'c, but there nonetheless.

At her side, Daniel made an indistinct sound in the back of his throat and dashed down to the gate room.

Sam remained where she was, watching them from above. Then, ever so slowly, she released a long breath, one she had been holding for minutes, hours, weeks. She melted into a nearby chair, her eyes never leaving the threesome below.

Her team, whole again.

Jack's head momentarily lifted from Teal'c's shoulder, glancing blearily around the room.

Looking for her.

She had done it. She had saved her team. But Sam had the feeling she still had to learn the price of that gift. So she sat and breathed in and out and watched, acquiescing to the invisible barrier created by the vague feeling that she didn't deserve to join them.

"Walter," she ordered softly, after she watched Teal'c and Daniel lead Jack out of the gate room. "Dial the Alpha Site. It's time to get our people back."

Walter nodded eagerly and Sam forced her mind on the task at hand.

There would be more than enough time later for consequences.


	13. Honor

Title: Outside the Lines: Honor  
Author: Annerb  
Rating: Teens  
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?  
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J  
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')  
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

Author's Note: The speech at the beginning is modified (stolen) from a posthumous Medal of Honor ceremony given by President Clinton in 2001 for two men, Andrew Jackson Smith, an African-American Civil War Hero, and Theodore Roosevelt. There has in fact been only one woman honored with this medal (Mary Walker, 1861). Obviously I had a little too much fun researching this all…;) But I thought you might be interested too! Oh, and this is the last chapter, by the way. I hope you have all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Thank you so much for all your feedback, it means the world to me.

_Honor_

"In 1782, George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit. It was the first medal awarded by our nation's Armed Forces. But soon it fell into oblivion, and for decades no new medals were established. It was thought that a medal was too much like a European aristocratic title, while to fight for one's country in America was simply doing your democratic duty.

"So when the Medal of Honor was instituted during the Civil War it was agreed it would be given only for gallantry, at the risk of one's life above and beyond the call of duty. That's an extraordinarily high standard, one that precious few ever meet. The Medal of Honor is our highest military decoration, and we are here today to honor an American hero who is only the second woman to meet that mark.

"Major Samantha Carter, you have performed above and beyond the call of duty, risking your own life against entrenched enemies of the United States of America, uncovering conspiracies that threatened the sanctity of American honor and preserving the lives of fellow servicemen and women…"

Sam stood ramrod straight in her dress blues desperately trying not to remember the last time she had worn them at the edge of Jack's grave. The President's speech flowed over her, but she found she could no longer listen to words of praise and honor. She was scared that if she did she would rudely interrupt him to correct him. To remind him that there were more apt words to describe Samantha Carter, and that none of them were hero.

Murderer.

Sam swayed on the spot, but quickly stiffened her spine, hoping no one had seen. There was an endless sea of uniforms and suits, smiling politicians and insistent reporters jockeying for better locations. They all stood in the weak winter sun, pulling their coats tighter against the biting wind. But Sam was numb to all of it.

Soon she was shaking the President's hand, murmuring the appropriate words with a plastic smile on her face. A large medal was pinned to her chest, made only heavier by its hypocrisy. Endless flashbulbs blinded her and anonymous hands gripped hers.

The formal ceremony bled over into an evening cocktail party where people asked her about her work at the Pentagon and how she enjoyed living in Washington. Sam's work was still largely classified, but her refusal to divulge any details just made her more popular in her mystique. Every time she turned around, there was just another corpulent face and more pointed, pressing questions.

At midnight she managed to slip out of a side door and wander down the moonlight paths to the edge of the tumultuous Potomac. As she walked, her mind began to rebelliously think of the people who hadn't been there tonight. Not that she really expected anyone, it was just that some part of her would have taken comfort in some familiar faces.

Not that she deserved it.

Sam walked a little further before she sighed and closed her eyes, resigned to letting the uncomfortable memories attack her once again.

_They were all gathered at Jack's house, celebrating his release from the infirmary. It was the first time they had all been alone together since everything had started, but Sam wasn't naïve enough to think that it would be like old times. Daniel was chatting animatedly and even Teal'c was trying to participate, but nothing could disguise the cloud that hung over the gathering, or the foul mood that radiated off of Jack._

_The last few weeks had been filled to the brim with investigations, in-depth briefings and, for Jack, a long recovery from a staff-blast wound, a broken arm and a severe case of pneumonia. He had never been one for sitting patiently in the infirmary, but Janet had insisted on bed rest. He's spent all his time there, getting updates from Daniel and Teal'c on what was happening in the Mountain._

_As for Sam, for some reason she hadn't been able to quite bring herself to visit him. She'd claimed that she was busy, which she certainly had been, but none of her teammates were really be fooled. Once or twice she had stood slightly behind Daniel and Teal'c as they related the latest news, but she hadn't even been able to meet his eyes. Daniel and Teal'c seemed to understand and never pushed her, but Jack was a different case entirely._

_When Jack had first returned, Sam, like the coward she was, had only visited him at night when she was certain he was asleep, allowing herself the selfish luxury of touching his skin, just to prove to herself that he was really there. She'd let her eyes travel over his bandages and the scratches on his face, trying to establish what exactly had happened to him, all because she was too afraid to hear the story from his own lips._

_Sam was exhausted from the roller coaster she had been on for the last couple of months, but now that she sat in Jack's house that reeked of unspoken things, she found herself heartily wishing for the non-stop activity of the previous days._

_Daniel had pulled out the brown bag Sam had forced on him and dropped it at Jack's feet. "Thought you might want your money back," he wryly commented with a smile. "Well, at least the part I didn't spend."_

_Jack glanced in the bag and turned to Sam. "So you did manage to figure that out."_

_There was something testy in his tone and Sam felt herself stiffening. "It wasn't that difficult, sir."_

"_So I guess it's just following my orders that's so damn hard to do."_

_Sam wasn't surprised by his anger. It was more than just the fact that she had ignored his orders. He was also hurt by her behavior. He was no fool, and she found herself incapable of explaining why exactly she had evaded him so carefully at the SGC. Everything was just still too raw. _

_All in all, his anger was to be expected and Sam weathered it stoically. Before she could come up with a response, however, Daniel and Teal'c attempted to wrest control of the conversation away from them._

"_Mathers' hearing starts tomorrow," Daniel smoothly interceded._

_Jack stared at Sam a moment longer before turning away and taking a swig from a beer of which Janet would definitely not approve. "Yeah," he said noncommittally. "But York still seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet."_

"_Hopefully not literally," Daniel commented._

_Jack picked at the label of his beer, but didn't even smile at Daniel's quip. "No word on Wash?"_

_The atmosphere in the room rapidly changed. Sam could feel Daniel's eyes on her and knew that Jack didn't miss a second of the glance or the way Sam had undoubtedly paled._

"_The investigation has revealed nothing of his whereabouts, O'Neill," Teal'c commented mildly. Sam was impressed by the way he managed to not speak a single untruth and yet still protect her._

_They shouldn't have to protect her. And yet, she still sat quietly by and let them. Not even once had she stood up and admitted what she had done during all of the briefings she had been through. There was only one highly classified report that documented the complete truth, a truth Sam didn't want to discuss even if it had been allowed. Necessary measures, it whispered. Sam had taken the flimsy excuse and never looked back, which was why she sat silently by and let Daniel and Teal'c lie for her._

_Sam forced herself to meet Jack's gaze and wasn't surprised to see that he had already suspected her. It had been that way ever since he returned. On the rare occasions they were together, she could tell that the darkness that lurked in her eyes bothered him. She thought that perhaps part of him mourned the Major Carter that had died during his absence. _

_The idea forced her to her feet and out the back door._

_Jack followed rather closely behind, probably spoiling for this confrontation from the moment he stepped through the wormhole and she hadn't been there._

"_Dammit, Carter. Why couldn't you have just done what I asked?"_

_Sam had told herself to stay calm and just let him say what he wanted, but she was surprised by the immense swell of anger at his words. "Done as you asked…Run away and forget that people had been neutralized? That an organization capable of the murder of its own was now going to be Earth's ambassador to the whole galaxy?" _

_She hadn't looked at Jack during the whole tirade, but she could sense his surprise. Good, obedient Major Carter never dared yelled at Colonel O'Neill. But she was damn tired of him deluding himself into thinking that this was a simple case of following orders._

_She turned to look at him. "You expected so little of me that you thought that after you were murdered, that I would just shrug and walk away. That I wouldn't care…That's complete bullshit."_

_Jack stared stunned for a moment, before his eyes began to flash with matching anger. "I was hoping that you wouldn't be that selfish. That maybe you would think of Daniel and Teal'c, or the other people who didn't need to die."_

_Sam took one involuntary step back, as if he had slapped her. She reflected that just a few weeks earlier, she might have felt threatening tears, but that Sam was a thing of the past. "I offered them a chance to go. I practically ordered them…but I wasn't naïve enough to expect them to do something I wouldn't do myself."_

"_And Wash?" Jack asked in a low voice._

_They were finally getting to the crux of the issue. "I didn't do anything that you haven't already done. That you wouldn't do in my place."_

_Jack finally sighed and took a few steps away from her. She tell that his anger was draining away. "I know that," he finally admitted. _

_He sounded sad, tired and resigned. Sam found that she preferred his anger._

_He rounded on her, his voice soft. "But you… This is about you, not me. There are some things you were never meant to understand. It was part of who you were."_

_Were. Past tense, as in no longer. _

_Sam closed her eyes against the burgeoning pain in her chest. Her fingers bit into the railing. The ultimate cost for her actions was higher than she'd expected. But she still knew with absolute certainty that it was worth it. She opened her eyes, meeting Jack's gaze head on. _

"_I would do it again," she whispered. "A thousand times if need be."_

_Jack sucked in his breath, as if surprised by her vehemence, by the conviction he saw in her eyes. _

"_I'm sorry if you can't accept that," she said softly before turning her back on him and disappearing inside._

Less than a week later, when a grateful, somewhat still awe-struck Bauer asked her if there was anything he could do to thank her for all her hard work, Sam had requested a transfer back to the Pentagon.

Jack never tried to talk her out of it.

Three months she had lived in Washington, her old stomping grounds. Any luster she may have projected on this place years before was sorely lacking. Not that her work at the Pentagon wasn't fulfilling or interesting. It just wasn't the same. But that was probably the point.

She wasn't sure if she was punishing herself with self-imposed exile or if she maybe just couldn't handle the thought of seeing Jack day in a day out, knowing that she had lost his esteem and whatever soft feelings she may have imagined him having. She wasn't the same person who used to be on SG-1. All that was left was a woman haunted by nightmares, whose stomach twisted at the thought of ever holding a gun again.

Sam reached the edge of the river and leaned heavily on the railing, her eyes determinedly averted from the bright stars above. The swirling muddy waters of the Potomac were her new life. For a moment, she wished she had tears for all she had lost, but they had all dried up in a dark, echoing cell with the last of Wash's blood.

Her fingers brushed over the medal pinned to her chest and she reflected that there were so many others that deserved this more that her. She thought of the fiercely determined faces of the SGC personnel in the dark. Daniel, gripping a weapon he despised, but firing anyway to save her life. Teal'c risking his life on the barest whisper of hope that his brother-in-arms might still draw breath.

But it was Sam, the one with dark secrets and blood on her hands, that was given this honor that was an insult to so many.

"Funny how it can feel more like a curse than an honor," a voice observed placidly behind her.

Sam swung around to find Jack standing casually behind her in his dress blues. He had loosened the tie at this throat and his hands were characteristically shoved into his pockets.

She was more surprised by his sudden appearance than by his ability to somehow read her thoughts. Her eyes traveled over the orderly rows of various colored ribbons that decorated his chest and wondered how many of them represented unforgivable things he had been asked to do for the good of his country. But no one had asked Sam to do what she did, and she couldn't quite pretend that she had done it in the name of her country.

Sam turned backed to the river and its turbulent waters before saying, "What are you doing here?" She couldn't quite bring herself to tack on the 'sir.'

She felt rather than saw him move up beside her and lean back on the low wall with his arms crossed. "It's not everyday a member of my team receives the Medal of Honor," he said mildly.

Sam fought back the urge to snort disbelievingly or remind him not so gently that she wasn't a member of his team. Not anymore. Instead, she just remained silent.

They stood there a long time, neither of them speaking. After a while, she could feel the weight of his gaze, willing her to look at him. But she stubbornly kept her eyes lowered, fairly certain she didn't really want to know why he was here.

Eventually, he sighed heavily in defeat and asked bluntly, "Why did you leave?"

They so rarely communicated this openly with each other that Sam was taken by surprise. "Why didn't you stop me?" she countered without thinking.

Jack didn't respond, but she could feel him shift uneasily next to her. Part of her wanted to laugh hysterically at them. They were both desperate for honest answers, but neither of them was willing to give them. Just another chapter in the twisted tale of Jack and Sam, she thought wryly.

From beneath lowered lashes, Sam turned her head slightly to observe the man leaning next to her. He seemed to have fully recovered from his injuries and illness, but there was still a gauntness to his features that was new, as if he hadn't been sleeping or eating properly. Considering everything he had been through, it was no surprise.

Sam turned her head back to the water, refusing to let her mind travel down that path. But she knew what it must have cost him to come here to see her. Maybe he deserved a little truth. Maybe they both did.

_Why did she leave?_

"Wash," she finally whispered in answer to his question.

The name hung between them and Sam wondered how such a tiny word could have so much power.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, his voice barely more than a sigh.

"I told myself I had to do it," Sam continued in a louder voice, "but that was a lie. I didn't." It was the first time she had admitted it to herself, let alone to anyone else.

Jack didn't respond, but just waited for her to finish.

Sam forced herself to look at him, needing to see his reaction. "I killed him because I wanted to. I wanted him to pay for what he had done to you," she said.

Jack met her gaze head on, but there was no revulsion or disappointment. He just looked straight back at her. "I can't tell you that it's okay, because it's not," he said quietly. "But you already know that."

They were words she hadn't even known she'd longed to hear, but they were just…right. It was a balm to her soul to hear someone acknowledge the dishonor of her actions rather than force her to stand tall while she was praised.

And somehow, miraculously, she felt a single tear travel a path down her cheek, proving that maybe there was a little human in her yet. She cried that tear for Hammond and Morris and for Wash's sister and mother who hopefully would never know how far astray their loved one had gone. She cried it for herself and what she had willingly become and for the man in front of her who'd been forced to watch a subordinate assassinated just so they could get to him next.

Without hesitation Jack took one step closer to Sam and brushed that single tear from her face. "I was angry at the whole situation. I couldn't handle the thought that you might have gone through all of this just for me," he confessed softly, "but you can't honestly believe that it makes me see you as anything less."

Sam met his eyes with difficulty, but could clearly see that he spoke the truth. They both knew what she had done and exactly why she had done it. He wasn't trying to excuse it or pretend it hadn't happened. He just understood.

In that moment, Sam vividly remembered her broken confessions into Daniel's damp shirt so many months before. How she had longed for just one chance to say the words she always wanted to say. How she had sworn to an empty grave that if fate somehow managed to bring him back that she wouldn't squander anymore time to fear and restrictions.

But instead, she just stared at him and wondered if anyone ever bothered to learn anything from the past. Or if anyone ever kept their promises.

She opened her mouth, tried to force the words.

But maybe Jack somehow knew what she was struggling with, because he just gave her a tiny smile, held his hand out for hers and led her away from the turbulent winter waters.

With her hand grasped tightly in his, Sam decided that Daniel had been right. Jack did know. And maybe that was enough.

In the end, she had crossed the lines and left them all broken behind her. There was a high price for what she had done, but Jack wasn't one of them. She could feel the curling tendrils of an even deeper bond between them and knew it would be enough to keep the darker nightmares at bay, whether she deserved it or not.

But Sam decided that it was no longer up to her. She leaned her head back and gazed at the endless stars, yearning to travel them once again. It was time for someone else to lead. So she closed her eyes and let Jack guide her where he may, with only one thought in her mind.

For him, she would do it all again.

**The End**

* * *

"If it's really love you would follow it forever  
Would you wander for me?  
Even though you think I'm lost and you know better  
Would you wander for me?

Wandering is more than filling footprints right behind me  
How far would you go outside the lines just to find me  
When you see that I am gone to the edge and way beyond

Would you wander for me?  
'Cause I'd wander for you."

_Would You Wander_ by Lisa Loeb


End file.
